THE # S 

RISE and PROGRESS 

O F 
RELIGI ON in the SOU L : 

Iliu st rated 
In a COURS-E of Serious and 

Practical Addresses, 

Suited to PERSONS of every Character 

and Circumstance : 

WITH 

A Devout Meditation or Prayer added to each 

CHAPTER. 



To WHICH IS PREFIXED, 

A Sermon on the care of the soul, 

and alfo fubjoined, 

A plain and ferious ADDRESS to the Mafter of a 

FAMILY, on the important fubjedt of 

Family RELIGION. 



By the late Rev. PHILIP DODDRIDGE, D. D. 

Qua fere t hie Greffum. Fontes dabit arida Vallis>, 

Inque cavas Fofias depluet Agmen Aqux : 
iDftaurabit Iter Viies : & Nominis Ora 
VifurusSolymse figet in JEde Pedem. 

Johnft Pfal. Ixxxiv, 5. 6, 
Ttftifying — Repentance towatd GOD, and Faith toward our Lord 

Jefus Chrift. Acts xx. 21. 

Whom wt preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all 
Wifdom. j that we may prefent every Man perfect in Chrift jefus. 

Col. i. a8. 



NORTHAMPTON; 

Printed by WILLIAM BUTLER, for the Society 
for propagating the Gofpel among the Indians and 
others in North America; the Hampfnire Million- 
ary Society, and the truftees of Phillips's Andover 
Academy. 2 804. 



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APR S 1940 



LC Control Number 




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I! 



THE 
CONTENTS. 

Chap. L 

THE introduction to the work, with fome general ac- 
count of its defign. , Page 37 
A prayer for the fuccefs of it, in promoting 
the rife and progrefs of religion. . 45 
Chap. II 
The carelefs finner awakened. 47 
The meditation of a finner, who was once though tlefs, 
but begins to be awakened. 5$ 
Chap. III. 
The awakened finner urged to immediate confideration, 
and cautioned againft delay. 57 
A prayer for one, who is tempted to delay ap- 
plying to religion, though under fome con- 
viction of its importance. 63 
Chap. IV. 
The finner arraigned and convicted. 65 
The confeflion of a finner, convinced in general of his 
guilt. 74 
Chap. V, 
The finner ftripped of his vain pleas. 7^ 
The meditation of a convinced fmner, giving up his 
vain pleas before God. 83 
Chap. VI. 
The finner fentenced. 85: 
The reflection of a finner ftriick with the terror of his 
fentence. 92 
Chap. VII. 
The helplefs Mate of the finner under condemnation. 93 
The lamentation of a finner in this- miferable con* 
dition. 98 
Chap. VIII. 
News of falvation by Chrifl brought to the convinced and 
condemned finner. 100 
The finner's reflection on this good news 106 

Chap, 
a 



6 CONTENTS. 

Chap. IX. 

A more particular account of the way, by which this fal- 
vation is to be obtained. 1 07 

The finner deliberating on the expediency of fal- 
ing in with this method of falvation. 1 15 

Chap. X. 
The finner feriouily urged and entreated to accept of fal- 
vation in this way. 117 
The iinner yielding to thefe intreaties, and declar- 
ing his acceptance ©£ falvation by Chrift. 1 2 z 
Chap. XI. 
A folemn addrefs to thofe, who will not be perfuaded to 
fall in with the defign of the gofpeL 1 24 
A companionate prayer in behalf of the impenitent 
finner. 136 
Chap. XII. 
An Addrefs to a foul fo overwhelmed with a fenfe of the 
greatnefs of its fins, that it dares not apply itfelf to 
Chriii with any hope of falvation. 138 
Reflection on the encouragements he has to do it> 
ending in an humble and earneft application to 
Chrift for mercy. J 43 
Chap. XIII. 
The doubting foul more particularly afiiftedin its enqui- 
ries as to the fmcerity of its faith and repentance. 1 45 
The foul fubmitting to divine examination thefin- 
cerity of its repentance and faith. 150 
Chap. XIV. 
A more particular view of the feveral branches of the 
Chriftian temper ; by which the reader may be farther af- 
fifted in judging what he is, and what he fhould en- 
deavour to be. 152 
A review of the feveral branches of this temper 
in a fcriptural prayer. 165 
Chap. XV. 
The reader reminded how much he needs the afliftance 
J cfthe fpiritof God to form him to this temper, and 
\ what encouragement he has to expect it. 168 
An humble fupplication for the influences of divine 
grace to form and ftrengthen religion in the foul. 173 

C H A ?* 



CONTENTS. 7 

Chap. XVI. 
The Chriftian convert warned of, and animated againft 
thofe difcouragements which he mud expect to meet 
with, when entering on a religious courfe. 175 

The foul alarmed by a fenle of thefe difficulties, 
committing itfelf to divine protection. 180 

Chap. XVIL 
The Chriftian urged to, and affifted in an exprefs act of 
felf-dedication to the fervice of God. 182 

An example of felf-dedication, or a folemn form 
of renewing our covenant with God : 1 85 

Together with an abftract of it, to be ufed with 
proper and requifite alterations. 190 

Chap. XVIII. 
Of entering into church communion by an attendance up- 
on the Lord's- fupper. 191 
A prayer for one who defires to attend, yet has 
fome remaining doubts concerning his right to 
that folemn ordinance. 1 97 
Chap. XIX. 
Some more particular directions for maintaining continual 
communion with God, or being in his fear all the day- 
long ; in a letter to a pious friend. 199 
A ferious view of death proper to be taken as we 
lie down on our beds. 213 
Chap. XX. 
A ferious perfuafive to fuch a method of fpending our 
days. 215 
A prayer fuited to the ftate of a foul, who longs -to 
attain to iuch a life. 22 z 
Chap. XXI. 
A caution againft various temptations, by which the young 
convert may be drawn afide from the courfe before 
recommended. 225 
The young convert's prayer for divine protection 
from the danger of thefe fnares. 233 
Chap. XXII. 
The cafe of fpiritual decay and languor in religion. 235 
A prayer for one under fpiritual decays, 244 
Chap. XXIII. 
The fad cafe of relapfe into known, and deliberate fin, af- 
ter 



3 CONTENTS. 

ter folemn acts of dedication to God, and fome pr - 
grefs made in religion. 247 

A prayer for one who has fallen into grofs fm, after 
religious refolutions and engagements, 254 

Chap. XXIV. 
The cafeoftheChriftianunderthehidingsof God's face.258 
An humble fupplication for one under the hidings 
of God's face. 268 

C H.A p. XXV. 
The Chriftian flruggling under great and heavy afflicti- 
ons. 271 
An addrefs to God under the preflure of heavy 
afflictions. 275 
Chap. XXVI. 
The Chriftian affifted in examining into his growth in 
grace. 278 
The Chriftian breathing earneftly after growth in 
grace. 287 
Chap. XXVII. 
The advanced Chriftian reminded of the mercies of God, 
and exhorted to the e'xercifes of habitual love to him, 
and joy in him. 288 
An example of the genuine workings of this grate- 
ful joy in God. 294 
Chap. XXVIII. 
The eftablifhed Chriftian urged to exert himfelf for pur- 
pofes of ufefulnefs. 298 
The Chriftian breathing after more extenfive ufe- 
fulnefs. 307 
Chap. XXIX. 
The Chriftian rejoicing in the views of death and judg- 
ment. 309 
The meditation and prayer of a Chriftian, whofe 
heart is warmed with thefe profpects. 317 
Chap. XXX. 
The Chriftian honoring God by his dying behaviour. 319 
A meditation and prayer fuited to the cafe of a 
dying Chriftian. 327 



A SERMON on the CARE of the SOUL. 

LUKE x. 42— -former P4kr f 

ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. 

IT was the amiable character of our bleffed Re- 
deemer, that he went about doing good.* This great mo- 
tive, which animated all his actions, brought him to the 
houfe of his friend Lazarus, at Bethany, and directed his 
behaviour there. Tnough it was a feafon of recefs from 
public labour, our Lord brought the fentiments and the 
pious cares of a preacher of righteoufnefs into the par- 
lour of a friend ; and there his doctrine dropped as the rain 9 
and dijlilled as the dew, on the little happy circle that were 
then furrounding him. Mary, the fifter of Lazarus, with 
great delight made one amongft them ; fhe fet herfelf 
down at the feet of Jefus, in the pofture of an humble dif- 
ciple ; and we have a great deal of reafon to believe, that 
Martha, his other fifter, would gladly have been with her 
there ; but domeflic cares prefled hard upon her, and (lie 
was cumbered with much Jerking, being, perhaps, too folici- 
tous to prepare a fumptuous entertainment for her 
heavenly mafter and the train that attended him* 
Happy, are they, that in a croud of bufmefs do 
not loofe fomething of the fpirituality of their minds, and 
of the compofure, and fweetnefs of their tempers! This 
good woman comes to our Lord with too impatient a 
complaint ; infmuating fome little reflection, not only 011 
Mary, but on himfelf too. Lord dojl thou not care that my 
fifter hath left me toferve alone ? Bid her therefore that Jhe 
help me. f Our Lord, willing to take all opportunities 
of fuggefling ufeful thoughts, anfwers her in thefe words, 
of which the text is a part, Martha, Martha, thou art care- 
ful and troubled about many things, but one thing is need* 
a fulj 

* Acts x. 38. f Luke x. 40. 



to The Care of the Soul 

ful, and Mary has chofen that good party which fiall not be 
taken away from her ; q. d. Alas Martha I the concerns 
of the foul are of fo much greater importance than thofe 
of the body, that I cannot blame your finer on this oc- 
casion : I rather recommend her to your imitation, and 
caution you, and all my other friends, to be much on 
your guard, that in the midft of your worldly cares, you 
do not loofe fight of that which fo much better deferves 
your attention. 

I mail confider thefe words, one thing is needful, as a 
kind of aphorifm, or wife and weighty fentence, dropped 
from the mouth of our bleiTed Redeemer, and evidently 
worthy of our moil ferious regard. In handling: them 
Ifhall, 

I. Confider what we are to underftand by the one thing 
here fpoken of. 

II. Shew you what is intended when it is reprefented 
as the one thing needful. 

III. I will fhew how juftly it may be fo reprefented, or 
prove that it is indeed the one thing needful. 

IV. Conclude with fome reflections and application. 
My friends, the words which are now before us are to 

this day as true, as they were feventeen hundred years 
ago. Set your hearts to attend to them. O that you 
might, by divine grace, be awakened to hear them with 
a due regard, and might be fo impreiTed with the plain 
and ferious things which are now to be fpoken , as you 
probably would, if I were fpeaking by your dying beds, 
and you had the full exercife of your reafon, and the near 
and lively view of eternity ! 

I. I am briefly to confider what we are to underftand 
by the one thing needful. 

Now I anfwer in a few words, it is the care of the foul, 
oppofed, as you fee in the text, to the care, i. e. the ex- 
cefllve care of the body, for which Martha was gently 
admoniilied by our Lord. This is a general anfwer, and 
it comprehends a variety of important particulars which 
is the bufmefs of our miniftry often to open to you at 
large : The care of the foul implies a readinefs to hear 
the words of Chrift, to fet ourfelves with Mary at his 

" feet, 



urged ut the one Thing Nee J Jul. \X 

feet, and to receive both the law and the gofpel from his 
mouth. It fuppofes that we learn from this divine teach- 
er the worth of our fouls, their danger and their remedy. 
That we become above all things folicitous about their 
eternal falvation. That, heartily repenting of all our 
fins, and cordially believing the everlafting gofpel, we 
receive the Lord Jems Chrift for righteoufnefs and life, 
reding our fouls on the value of his atonement, and the 
efficacy of his grace. It imports the fmcere dedication of 
ourfelves to the fervice of God, and a faithful adherence 
to it, notwithstanding all the oppofitiohs arifmg from in- 
ward corruptions, or outward temptations, and a refolute 
perfeverance in the way of gofpel dependence, till we receive 
the end of our faith in our complete falvaticn. This is the 
one thing needful, reprefented indeed in various fcriptures 
by various names. Sometimes it is called regeneration, or 
the new creature, becaufe it is the bleffed work of God's ef- 
ficacious grace. Sometimes the fear of God, and fome- 
times his love, and the keeping his commandments ; and very 
frequently in the New Teftament is called faith, or 
receiving Chrift, and believing on him, which, therefore, is re- 
prefented as the great work of God ;* i. e. the great thing 
which God in his glorious gofpel requires, as well 
as by his fpirit produces in us : Each of thefe, if 
rightly Underftood and explained, comprehends all that 
I have faid on this head. On the whole, we may 
fay, that, as the body is one, though it has many members, 
and the foul is one, though it has many faculties; 
fo, in the prefent cafe, this real, vital religion \s one 
thing, one facred principle of divine life, bringing us to 
attend to the care of our fouls, as of our greater! 
treafure. It is one thing, notwithstanding ail the variety 
of views in which it may be confidered, and of characters 
under which it may be defciibed. I proceed, 

II. To confider what may be intended in the reprefen- 
tation which is here made of it, as the one thing needful. 

Now I think it naturally includes thefe three particu- 
lars : It is a matter of univerfal concern, of the higheft 
importance, and of fo comprehenfive a nature, that eve- 
ry 
* John vi. 29- 



'it The Care of the Soul 

ty thing which h truly worthy of our regard may be 
confidered as included in it, or fubfervient to it. Let 
me a little illuftrate each of thefe particulars, referving 
the proof of what I now affert to the third general} where 
it Will abundantly appear. 

i . The care of the foul may be called the one thing 
needful, " as it is matter of univerfal concern." 

Our Lord, you fee, fpeaks of it as needful m the general. 
He fays not for this or that particular perfon ; or for 
thofe of fuch an age, ftation, or circumftance in life, but 
needful for all. And, indeed, when difcourfmg on fuch 
a fubjecl, one might properly introduce it with thofe 
folemn words of the Pfalmift, give ear, all ye people, hear, 
all ye inhabitants of this earth, both high and low, rich and poor 
together.* For it is the concern of all, from the king 
that fits upon the throne, to the fervant that grindeth at 
the mill, or the beggar that iieth upon the dunghill. It is 
needful 'for us that are miniflers, for our own falvation is con- 
cerned. And woe, infupportable woe will be to our fouls, 
if we think it enough to recommend it to others, to ..talk 
of it in a warm, or an g^wful manner, in public alTemblies, 
or in our private converfe, while it does not penetrate our 
hearts as our own greateft care. Our cafe will then be 
like that of the Ifraelitijh lord in Samaria, f who was 
employed to diftribute the corn when the fiege was raif- 
ed, feeing it with our eyes, and difpenfmg it with our 
hands, we fhall ourfelves die miferably, without tafting 
the bleffings we impart. It is needful to all you that are 
our hearers, without the exception of one {ingle perfon. 
It is needful to you that are rich, though it may, on fome 
accounts, be peculiarly difficult for you ; even as difficult, 
comparatively fpeaking, as for a camel, to go tbrcugh the eye 
of a needle ; % yet, if it be neglected, you are poor in the 
midft of all your wealth, and miferable in all your 
abundance ; and a wretch, ftarving for hunger, in a 
magnificent palace and a rich drefs, would be lefs 
the object of compaflion than you. It is needful 
for you that are poor ; though you are diftreffed with 
fo many anxious cares, what you fhall eat, and 

what 
* Pfalm xlixe i, 2. f 2 Kings vii. 2. £ Mat. xix. 24* 



urged as the one Thing needful. 23 

'what you /ball drink, and wherewithal! you fhal! le cloathed.* 
The nature, that makes you capable of fuch anxieties as 
thefe, argues your much greater concern in the bread 
which endures to eternal life, f than in that by which this 
mortal body mufl be iupported. It is needful for you 
that are advanced in years, though your flrength be im- 
paired fo that the grafloopper is a burden j-J though you have 
by your long continuance in fin rendered this great work 
fo hard, that were it lefs important, one would in pity 
let you alone without reminding you of it : Yet late as it 
is, it muft be done, or your hoary heads will be brought 
down to the grave with wrath, and fink under a curfe ag- 
gravated by every year and by every day ©f your lives. 
It is needful to you that axe young, though folicited by fo 
many gay vanities, to neglect it ; though it may be rep- 
refented as an unfeafonable care at prefent, yet I repeat it, 
it is needful to you ; immediately needful, unlefs you, who 
walk fo frequently over the duft of your brethren and 
companions, that died in the bloom and vigour of their 
days, have made fome fecret covenant with the grave for 
yourfelves, and found out fome w-onderful method, hi- 
therto unknown, of fecuring this precarious life, and of an- 
fwering for days and months to come, while others cannot 
anfwer for one fmgle moment. 

2. The care of the foul is " a matter of the highefl im- 
portance ;" beyond any thing which can be brought into 
-comparifon with it. 

As Solomon fays of "wlfdom, that it is more precious than 
rubies, and that all things which can be defired are not to be com' 
fared with her, \ fo may I properly fay of this great, and 
mod important branch of wifdom, whatever can be laid 
in the balance with it, will be found altogether lighter than 
vanity. This is ftrongly implied when it is faid in the 
text, one thing is needful ; q. ci. one thing, and one thing a- 
lone is fo. Juft as the bleffed God is faid to be only wife,^ 
and only holy,\\ becaufe the wifdom and holinefs of an- 
gels and men is as nothing, when compared with his. 
What feems moil great and moft important in life, what 
B kings 

* 1 Mat. vi. 31. f Johnvi. 27. $ Ecclef. xii. 5. 

$ Prov. iii. 15. j i Xiw. b 1 7. jl Rev. M , 4. 



V^. The Care of the Soul 



this 
?eir 



Icings and fenates, what the wifeft and greateit of t: 
world are employing their time, their councils, th 
pens, their labours upon, are trifles, when compared 
with this one thing. A man may fubfift, he may in fome 
considerable meafure be happy, without learning, with- 
out riches, without titles, without liberty, without 
friends, nay, though the life be more than meat, and the body 
than raiment,* yet may he be happy, unfpeakably happy, 
without the body itielf. But he cannot be fo in the neg- 
lect of the one thing needful. I muft therefore befpeakyour 
regard to it in the words of Mofes, it is not a light thing, but 
it is out- life.-f 

3. The care of the foul is of fo comprehenfive a nature, 
that " every thing truly worthy of our regard may be 
confidered as included in it, or fubfervient to it." 

As David obferves, that the commandment of God is ex- 
ceeding bread,~± fo we may fay of this one thing needful ; and 
sis Solomon very jtiftly and emphatically exprefTes it, to 
fear God and to keep his commandments is the whole of man ;$ 
his whole duty, and his whole intereft ; and every thing 
xvhich is wife and rational does in its proper place and 
connection make a part of it. We fliould judge very ill 
concerning the nature of this care, if we imagined, that 
it confifted merely in acts of devotion, or religious con- 
templation ; it comprehends all the lovely and harmoni- 
ous band of focial and humane virtues. It requires a 
care of fociety, a care of our bodies, and of our tempo- 
ral concerns ; but then all is to be regulated, directed, 
and animated by proper regards to God, Chrift, and im- 
mortality. Our food and our reft, our trades and our 
labours are to be attended to, and all the offices of hu- 
manity performed in obedience to the will of God, for 
the glory of Chrift, and in a view to the improving the 
mind in a growing meetnefs for a ftate of complete per- 
fection Name any thing which has no reference at all 
to this, and you name a worthlefs^ trifle, however it may 
be gilded to allure the eye, however it may be fweetened 
to gratify the tafte. Narrie a thing which, inftead of 

thus 

* Mat. vi. 25. f Deut. xxxii. 47. % Pfal. cxix. 96* 

$ Ecclef. xii. 13. 



urged as the one Thing needful. \% 

thus improving the foul, has a tendency to debafe and 
pollute, to enflave and endanger it, and you name what 
is mod unprofitable and mifchievous, be the wages of 
iniquity ever fo great ; mod foul and deformed, be it in 
the eyes of men ever {o honourable, or in their cuftoms 
ever fo fafhionable. Thus I have endeavoured to fhew 
you what we may fuppofe implied in this expieffion of oris, 
thing being needful. I am now, 

III. To fhew you with how much propriety the care 
of the foul may be reprefented under this character, of 
the one thing needful, as a matter of univerfal and mod 
ferious concern, to which every thing elfe is to be con- 
sidered as fubfervient, if at all worthy of our care and 
purfuit. Now let me appeal to the fentiments of thofe 
who muft be allowed moft capable of judging, and to the 
evident reafon of the cafe itfelf, as it muft appear to every* 
unprejudiced mind. 

i. Let me argue "from the fentiments of thofe who 
muft be allowed moft capable of judging in fuch an af- 
fair," and we fhali quickly fee that the care of the foul 
appears to them the one thing needful. 

Is the judgment of the bleffed God according to truth, 
how evidently and how folemnly is that judgment de- 
clared ? I will not fay merely in this or the other par- 
ticular paffage of his word, but in the whole feries of 
his revelations to the children of men, and the whole 
tenor of his addreffes to them. Is not this the language 
of all, from the early days of Job and Mofes to the con- 
clufion of the canon of fcripture. If* ivifdom be hid from 
the eyes of all the living, furely God underjlandeth the ivay 
thereof, he knoiveth the place thereof; and if he does, it is 
plainly pointed out, for unto man he ftill faith, heboid the 
fear of the Lord, that is ivifdom, and to d part from evil, that 
is under/landing. By Mofes he declared to the Ifraelites, 
that to do the commandments of the Lord would be 
their wifdom and their underftanding in the fight of the 
nations, who fhould hear his ftatutes, and fay, furely this 
is a wife and an underflanding people.^ When he had raifeci 
up one man on the throne of Ifrael, with the character 

of 
* Job xxviii. 21, 23, &c. f Dent. iv. 6. 



*6 The Cake of tie Sou i. 

of the wifeft that ever lived upon the face of the earth, fie 
chofe to make him eminently a teacher of this great truth. 
And now all that he fpoke on the curious and lefs con- 
cerning fubjecls of natural philofophy, is loft, though he 
/pake of trees from the cedar to the hyffop, and of beafls and of 
fowls, and of creeping things, and offjhes;* that faying is 
preferved in which heteftifies, that the fear of the Lord is 
the beginning of wifdomf and thofe proverbs, in almoft ev- 
ery line of which they, who neglecl God and their own. 
fouls, are fpoken of as fools, as if that were the moft prop- 
er figniMcation of the word, while the religious alone are 
honoured with the title of wife. But in this refped as at- 
tefting this truth in the name of God and in his own, a 
greater than Solomon is here. 

For if we enquire what it was that our Lord Jefus 
Chr'fl judged to be the one thing needful, the words of the 
text contain as full an anfwer as can be imagined ; and 
the fenfe of them is repeated m a very lively and em- 
phatical manner, in that remarkable paftage wherein our 
.Lord not only declares his own judgment, but feems to 
appeal to the confciences of all, as obliged by their own 
jfecret convictions to fubfcribe to the truth of it. What is 
a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lofe his own 
fdul ; or what jh all a man give in exchange for his foul ?\ If 
it were once loft, what would he not be willing to give 
to redeem it ? But it depends not on the words of Chrift 
alone. Let his actions, his fuiferings, his blood, his 
death fpeak what" a value he fet on the fouls of men. Is 
it to be imagined, that he would have relinquished heav- 
en, that he would have dwelt upon earth, that he would 
have laboured by night and by day, and at laft have ex- 
pired on the crofs, for a matter of light importance? Or 
can we think that he, in whom dwell all the treafures of wif- 
dom and knowledge, and all the fulnefs of the Godhead bodily, § 
was miftaken in judgment fo deliberately formed, and fo 
folemnly declared ? 

If after this there were room to mention human judg- 
ment, and teftimonies, how eafy would it be to produce a 

cloud 
* i Kings iv. 33. f Prov. i. 7. ix. io. J Mat. xvi. s4> 

§ Col. iii. 9. 



i 



urged as the one Thing needful. if 

cloud of witneffes in fuch a caufe, and to mew that the 
wifeft and beft of men in all ages of the world have a- 
greed in this point, that amidft all the diverfities of opin- 
ion and profetfion, which fucceeding generations have 
produced, this has been the unanimous judgment, this 
the common and moft folicitous care of thofe, whcfe 
characters are moft truly valuable, to fecure the falvation 
of their own fouls, and to promote the falvation of others. 

And let me befeech you ferioufly to reflect, what are 
the characters of thofe who have taken the liberty, mod 
boldly and freely to declare their judgment on the con- 
trary fide ? The number of fuch is comparatively few ; 
and when you compare what you have obferved of their 
temper and conduct, I will not fay with what you read 
of holy men of old, but with what you have yourfelves 
feen in the faithful, active, and zealous fervants of Chrift, 
in thefe latter ages, with which you have converfed, do 
you on the whole find that the rejectors and deriders of 
the gofpel, are in other refpecls fo much more prudent 
and judicious, fo much Wifer for themfelves, and for 
others that are influenced by them, as that you can be in 
reafon obliged to pay any great deference to the authority 
of a few fuch names as thefe, in oppofition to thofe to 
which they are here oppofed ? 

But you will fay, and you will fay it too truly though 
but a few may venture in words to declare for the neglect 
of the foul and its eternal intereft, the greater part of 
mankind do it in their actions. But are the greater part 
of mankind fo wife, and fo good, as implicitly to be fol- 
lowed in matters of the higheft importance ? And do not 
multitudes of thefe declare themfelves on the other fide, 
in their moft ferious moments ? When the intoxications 
of worldly bufmefs andpleafures are over, and fome lan- 
guilhing ficknefs forces men to folitude and retirement ; 
what have you generally obferved to, be the effect of fuch 
a circumftance ? Have they not then declared themfelves 
convinced of the truth we are now labouring to eftablim ? 
Nay, do we not fometimes fee that a diftemper which 
feizes the mind with violence, yet does not utterly deitroy 
its reafoning faculties, fixes this cormction on the foul in a 
b few 



*i The Care of the Soul 

few hours, nay fometimes in a few moments ? Hare 
you never feen a gay, thoughtlefs creature, furprized in 
the giddy round of pleafures and amufements, and pref- 
ently brought not only to ferioufnefs, but terror and 
trembling, by the near view of death ? Have you never 
feen the man of buiinefs and care interrupted, like the 
rich fool in the parable, in the midft of his fchemes for 
the prefent world ? And have you not heard one and the 
other of them owning the vanity ofthofe pleafures and 
cares, which but a few days ago were every thing to 
them ? Confeulng that religion was the one thing needful, 
and recommending it to others with an earneftnefs, as if 
they hoped thereby to atone for their own former neglect ? 
We that are minifters frequently are witnefies to fuch. 
things as thefe, and I believe few of our hearers are entire 
ftrangers to them. 

And once more, what if to the teilimony of the dying, 
we could add that of the dead ? What if God were to 
turn afide the veil which feparates between us and the 
invifible world, and to permit the mod carelefs fmner in 
the aifembly to converfe for a few moments with the in- 
habitants of it ? If you were to apply yourfelf to a hap- 
py fpirit, that trod the moil; thorny road to paradife, or 
panect thro' the moil fiery trial, and to aik him, " was it 
worth your while to labor fo much, and to endure fo much 
for what you now poifefs ?" Surely if the bleifed in heav- 
en were capable of indignation, it would move them to 
hear that it mould be made a queition. And on the other 
band, if you could enquire of one tormented in that jlame be- 
low, though he might once be cloathed in purple and fine lin- 
en, and fare fumptuoujly every day* if you could aik him, 
" whether his former enjoyments were any equivalent for 
his prefent fufTerings and defpair :" What anfwer do you 
fuppofe he would return ? Perhaps an anfwer of fo much 
horror and rage, as you would not be able fo much as to 
endure. Or if the malignity of his nature fhould prevent 
him from returning any anfwer at all, furely there would 
be a language even in that filence, a language in the dark- 
nefs, and flames, and groans of that infernal prifon, which 

would 
* Luke xvi. 19, 



urged as the one Thing needful. i$ 

would fpeak to 3 our very foul what the word of God is 
with equal certainty, though lefs forcible conviction, 
fpeaking to your ear, that one thing is needful. You fee it 
is fo in the judgment of God the Father, and the Lord Je- 
fus Chrift, of the wifeft and bed of men, of many, who 
feemed to judge moil differently of it, when they come to 
a more deliberate and ferious thought, and net only of the 
dying, but of the dead too, of thole who have experiment- 
ally known both worlds, and moll furely know what is to 
be preferred. But I will not reft the whole argument 
here, I add therefore, 

2. I appeal to the evident reafon of the cafe itfelf, as it 
mu/l appear to every unprejudiced mind, that the care of 
the foul is, indeed, the one thing needful. 

I full confider myfelf as fpeaking not to atheifts, or to 
deifts, but to thofe who not only believe the exiftence and 
providence of God, and a future ftate of happinefs and 
mifery, but like wife who credit the truth of the Chriftian 
revelation, as many undoubtedly do, who live in a fatal 
neglect of God and their own fouls. Now on thefe prin- 
ciples a little reflection may be fufficient to convince you, 
that it is needful to the prefent repofe of your own mind ; 
needful if ever you would fecure eternal happinefs ; if ever 
you would avoid eternal mifery, which would be aggra- 
vated, rather than alleviated, by all your prefent enjoy- 
ments. 

1. The care of the foul is the one thing needful, becaufe 
" without it you cannot fecure the peace of your own 
mind, nor avoid the upbraidings of your confeience." 

That noble faculty is indeed as you are often told, the 
vicegerent of God in the foul. It is fenfible of the dignity 
and worth of an immortal fpir it, and will fometimes cry 
cut of the violence that is offered to it, and cry fo loud, as 
to compel the finner to hear, whether he will or no. Do 
you not fometimes find it yourfelves ! When you labour 
moll to forget the concerns of your foul, do they not feme- 
times force themfelves on your remembrance ? You are 
afraid of the reflections of ycurown mind, but with all your 
artifice and all your refolution, can you entirely avoid 
them ? Does not conscience follow you to your bedc. even 

if 



£6 The Cars of fhe Soul 

if denied the opportunity of meeting you in your clofets, 
and tho 5 with an unwelcome voice, there warn you, " that 
your foul is neglected, and will quickly be loft ;" Does it 
not follow you to your fhops and your fields, when you 
are bufied there ? Nay, I will add, does it not fometimes 
follow you to the feaft, to the club, to the dance, and, per- 
haps, amidit all refinance, to the theatre too ? Does it not 
fometimes mingle your fweeteft draughts with wormwood, 
and your gayeft fcenes with horror ? So that you are like a 
tradefman, who, fufpecting his affairs to be in a bad pof- 
ture, lays by his books and his papers, yet fometimes they 
will come accidentally in his way. He hardly dares to 
look abroad for iear of meeting a creditor or an arreit ; and 
if belabors to forget his cares and his dangers, in a courfe 
of luxury at home, the remembrance is fometimes awaken- 
ed, and the alarm increafed, by thofe very extravagances 
in which he is attempting to lole it. Such, no doubt, is the 
cafe of fome of your minds, and it is a very painful ftate ; 
and while things are thus within, external circumft ances 
can no more make you happy, than a fine drefs could re- 
lieve you under a violent fit of the flone. Whereas if 
this great affair was fecured, you might delight in reflec- 
tion, as much as you now dread it ; and confcience, your 
bittereft enemy, would become a delightful friend, and 
the teftimony of it your greateft rejoicing. 

2. The care of the foul is the one thing needful, " becaufe 
without it you cannot pofiibly fecure your eternal happi- 
riefs." 

A crown of everlafting glory is not furely fuch a 
trifle as to be thrown away on a carelefs creature that will, 
not in good earneit purfue it. God doth not ordinarily 
deal thus, even with the bounties of his common provi- 
dence, which are compai atively of little value. As to 
thefe, the hand of the diligent generally makes rich, and he 
would be thought diflracted, rather than prudent, who 
fhould expect to get an eftate merely by wifhing for it, or 
without fome refolute and continued application to a prop- 
er courfe of action for that purpofe. Now, that we may 
not fooliihly dream of obtaining heaven, in the midit of 
a courfe of indolence and iloth, we are exprefsly told in 



urged as the one Thing needful. %i 

the word of God, that the Kingdom of Heaven ft/fters violence? 
and the violent take it by force ;* and are therefore exhorted 
to Jlrt ve, with the greateft intenfenefs, and eagernefs of 
mind, as the word properly fignifies, to enter in at the fl rait 
gate,for this great and important reafon, hecaufe many Jhall 
another day fcek to enter in, and Jhall not be able.\ Nay, 
when our Lord makes the moft gracious promifes to the 
humble petitioner, he does it in filch a manner as to ex- 
clude the hopes of thofe who are carelefs and indifferent* 
yljhy and it Jhall be given you ; feek, and you Jhall find ; knock, 
and it Jhall be opened untoyou.% If therefore you do not afk, 
feek and knock, the door of mercy will not be opened, and 
eternal happinefs will be loft. 

And fuiely if I could fay no more as to the fatal con- 
fequences of your neglect, than this, that eternal happinefs 
will be loft, I mould fay enough to imprefs every mind 
that confiders what eternity means. To fall into a ftate of 
everlafling forgetfulnefs might indeed appear a refuge to 
a mind filled with the apprehenfion of future mifery. But, 
O how dreadful a refuge is it ! Surely it is fuch a refuge, 
as a vaft precipice, from which a man falling would be 
daihed to pieces in a momerat, might appear to a perfoii 
purfued by the officers of juftice, that he may be brought 
©ut to a painful and lingering execution. If an extrava- 
gant youth would have reafon to look round with anguifh 
on fome fair and ample paternal inheritance, which he had 
fold or forfeited merely for the riot of a few days : How 
much more melancholy would it be for a rational mind 
to think that its eternal happinefs is loft for any earthly 
confideration whatever. Tormenting thought ! had I 
attended to that one thing which I had negle6ied, I might 
have been great and happy, beyond expreffion, beyond 
conception. Not merely for the little fpan of ten thouf- 
andthoufand ages, but for ever. So that the moment 
would have come, when, if it had been afked concerning 
me," How long has that glorious fpirit been an inhabit- 
ant of Heaven ? How long has it been enjoying God, and 
itfelf, in that ftate of perfe&ion ?" — The anfwer would 
have been fuch, that a line reaching even to the remoteft 

ftar 

*Mat. xi. 12. fLuke xiii. 24. % Mat viu7» 



il The Care of the Soul 

flar would not have been able to contain the number of 
ages, nor would millions of years have been fufficient to 
figure them down. This is eternity, but I have loft it, 
and am now on the verge of being. This lamp, which 
might have outlafted thofe of the firmament, will prefent- 
ly be extinguifhed, and I blotted out from amongft the 
works of God, and cut off from all the bounties of his 
hand. Would not this be a very miferable cafe, if this were 
all ? And would it not be fufficient to prove this to be the 
better part, which, as our Lord obferves, can never be taken 
away ? But God forbid that welhould be fo unfaithful to 
him, and to the fouls of men, as to reft in fuch a repre- 
fentation alone. I therefore add once more, 

3. The care of the foul is the one thing needful, becaufe 
" without it you cannot avoid a ftate of eternal mifery, 
which will be aggravated, rather than alleviated by all 
your prefent enjoyments. ? * 

Nothing can be more evident from the word of the God 
of truth. If there plainly appears to be a determined cafe, 
which leaves no room for a more favourable conjedure or 
hope. The wichedfloallbe turned into hell, even all the nations 
that forget God* They flo all go away into ever la/ling punifh- 
ment,\ into a ftate vvhere they mall in v&mfeek death, and 
death Jhall flee from them. O ! firs, it is a certain, but an 
awful truth, that your fouls will be thinking and immortal 
beings, even in fpite of themfelves. They may indeed tor- 
ment, but they cannot deftroy themfelves. They can no 
more fufpend their power of thought and perception, than 
a mirror its property of reflecting rays, that fall on its fur- 
face. Do you fufpect the contrary . ? Make the trial im- 
mediately. Command your minds to ceafe from thinking 
but for one quarter of an hour ; or for half that time, and 
exclude every idea and every reflection. Can you fucceed 
in that attempt ? Or rather, does not thought prefs in 
with a more fenfible violence on that refiftance ; as an anx- 
ious defire to fleep, makes us the more wakeful. Thus 
will thought follow you beyond the grave, thus will it, as . 
an unwelcome gueft, force itfelf upon you,, when it can 
ferve only to perplex and diftrefs the mind. It will for 

ever 
* Pfal. ix. 17, * Mat. xxv. 46. 



urged as the one Thing needful. t$ 

ever upbraid you, that notwithftanding all the kind ex- 
postulations of God and man, notwithstanding all the keen 
remenftrances of confcience, and the pleadings of the blood 
of Chrift, you have gone on in your folly, till heaven be 
loft, and damnation incurred ; and all for what ? for a 
lhadow and a dream. 

O think not, fmner, that the remembrance of your pad; 
pleafures, of your fuccefs in your other cares whilft that of 
the one thin® needful was forgotten, think not that this will 
eafe your minds. It will rather torment them the more. 
Son, remember that thou in thy life time receivedfl thy good things. 
Bitter remembrance ! Well might the heathen poets rep- 
refent the unhappy fpirits in the fhades below, as eagerly- 
catching at the water of forgetfulnefs, yet unable to reach 
it. Your prefent comforts will only ferve, to give you a 
livelier feni'e of your mifery, as having tafted fuch degrees 
of enjoyment ; and to inflame the reckoning, as you have 
mifimproved thofe talents lodged in your hands for better 
purpofes. Surely, if thefe things were believed, and feri- 
oully confidered, the fmner would have no mere heart to 
rejoice in his prefent prosperity, than a man would have to 
amufe himfelf with the curiofities of a fine garden, thro' 
which he was led to be broken upon the rnck. 

But I will enlarge no farther on thefe things. Would to 
God that the unaccountable fhrpidity of men's minds, 
and their fatal attachment to the pleafures and cares of the 
prefent life, did not make it necefTary to infill on themfo 
frequently and fo copioufly ! 

I.V. J proceed to the reflections which naturally arife 
from hence, and fhall only mention two. 

i. How much reafon have we to lament the folly of 
mankind in neglecting the one thing needful. 

If religion, indeed, be the truefi wifdom, thenilirely we 
have the jufleit reafon to fay with Solomon, that folly and mad- 
fiefs is in men's heat is. * Is it the one thing needful? Lock on 
the conduct of the generality of mankind, and you would 
imagine they thought it the one thing neediefs : The vaineft 
"ream and the idieft amufement of the mind. God is 
admoniihing them by ordinances, and providences, feme- 
times 
* Ecclef. ix. i. 



§4 The Care of the Sout 

times by fuch as are mod awful, to lay it to heart ; he 
/peaks once, yea twice, yea a multitude of times, but mar re* 
gards net* They profefs, perhaps, to believe all that I have 
been frying, but act as if the contrary were felf-evident : 
they will riik thefe fouls and this eternity, for a thing of 
nought, for that for the fake of which they would not rifk 
ih much as a hand, or a finger, or a joint, no, nor, per- 
haps, a toy that adorns it. Surely this is the wonder of 
angels, and, perhaps, of devils too, unlefs the obfervation 
of fo many ages may have rendered it familiar to both. — 
And can we, my chriftian brethren, behold fuch a fcene 
with indifference ? Iffome epidemical madnefs had feized 
our country, or the places where we live, fo that as we 
went from one place to another, we fhould every where 
meet with lunatics and fee, among the reft, fonae, perhaps, 
of the fineft genius and improvements, and in the mofl 
eminent ftations in life, amufmg themfelves with ftraws 
and bubbles, or wounding themfelves and others ; furely 
were we ever fo fecure from the danger of infection or af- 
fault, the fight would cut us to the heart. Surely a good 
natured man would hardly be able to go abroad, or even 
be defirous to live, if it mull be amongft. fo many fad fpec- 
tacles, Yet thefe poor creatures might, notwithstanding 
this be the children of God, and the higher their frenzy 
rofe, the nearer might their complete happinefs be. But 
alas, the greater part of mankind are feized with a worfe 
kind of madnefs, in which they are ruining their fouls : 
And can we behold it with indifference \ The Lord a- 
waken our companion, our prayer, and our endeavours in 
dependence on divine grace, that we may be inftrumental 
in bringing them to their right mind, and making them 
wife indeed, that is, wife to falvation. 

2. How neceffary it is that we mould ferioufiy inquire 
how this one thing needful is regarded by us ! 

Let me entreat you to remember your own concern in 
it, and inquire— Have I thought ferioufiy of it ? — Have I 
feen the impoitance of it ? — Has it lain with a due and an 
abiding weight on my mind ? — Has it brought me to Chrift, 
that I might lay the ftrefs of thefe great eternal interefis on 

him J 
* Job xxxiii. 14. 



urged as the one Thing needful. !$ 

nim ? — And am I acting in the main of my life as one that 
has thefe convictions ? — Am I willing in fact to give up 
other things, my intereils, my pleafures, my paffions to 
this ? — Am I converting 'with God and with man as one 
that believes thefe things, as one that has deliberately cho- 
fen the better part, and is determined to abide by that 
choice ! 

Obferve the anfwer which confcience returns to thefe in- 
quires, and you will know your own part in that more par- 
ticular application, with which I am to conclude my dif- 
courfe. 

j. Let me addrefs^thofe that are entirely unconcerned 
about the one thing needful. 

Sirs, I have been ftating the cafe at large, and now I 
appeal to your confciences, are thefe things fo, or are they 
not ? God and your own hearts bed know for«what the 
care of your foul is neglected ; but be it what it will, the 
difference between one grain of fand, and another, is not 
great, when it comes to be weighed againft a talent of 
gold. Whatever it is, you had need to examine it careful- 
ly. You had need to view that commodity on all fides, 
of which you do in effect fay, for this will I fell my foul, 
for this will I give up heaven and venture hell, be heaven 
and hell whatever they may. In the name of God, firs, 
is this the part of a man, of a rational creature ? To go 
on with your eyes open towards a pit of eternal ruin, be- 
caufe there are a few gay flowers in the way. Or wh at if 
you fhut your eyes ? will that prevent your fall ? It flgni- 
fies little to fay, I will not think of thefe things, I will not 
confider them. God has faid, in the loft days they fh all con-. _ 
Jider it perfetJly.* The revels of a drunken malefactor will 
not prevent, nor refpite his execution. Pardon my plain- 
nefs : if it were a fable, or a tale, I would endeavour to a* 
mufe you with words, but I cannot do it where your fouls 
are at ftake. 

2. I would apply to thofe who are convinced of the im- 
portance of their fouls, yet are inclined to defer that care 
of them a little longer, which in the general they fee to be 
rrecerfary. 

I know you that are young are under peculiar tempta- 
*Jer. xxiii. 20. C tions 



26 The Care of the Soul 

lions to do this ; tho* it is ftrange that the death of fo 
many of your companions fhould not be an anfwer to fome 
cf the mod fpecious and dangerous of thofe temptations. 
Methinks if there were the leaft degree of uncertainty, the 
importance is too weighty to put matters to the venture. 
But here the uncertainty is great and apparent. You 
muft furely know that there are critical feafons of life for 
managing the concerns of it, which are of fuch a nature, 
that, if once loft, they may never return : Here is a crit- 
ical feafon. Noiv is the accepted time, nctu is the day cf faU 
iration.* To day if you nvill hear his 'voice, harden net ycur 
hearts, f This language may not be fpoken to-morrow. 
Talk not of a more convenient feafn, none can be more 
convenient ; and that to which you would probably refer 
it, isleaft of all fo, a dying time. Yen would not chufe 
then to have any impoitant buiinefs in hand ; and will you 
of choice refer the greateft buiinefs of all to that languifh- 
ing, hurrying, amazing hour? If a friend were then to 
come to you with the balance of an intricate account, or a 
view of a title to an eftate, you would ihake your fainting 
head, and lift up your pale trembling hand, and fay, per- 
haps, with a feeble voice, "alas, is this a time for thefe 
things ?" And is it a time for fo much greater things 
than thefe ? I wifh you knew, and would confider into 
what a ftraitwethat are miniiters are fometimes brought, 
when we are called to the dying beds of thofe who have 
fpent their lives in the neglect of the one thing needful. On 
the one hand we fear, left if we paliate matters, and fpeak 
fmooth things, we fhall betray and ruin their fouls ; and 
on the other, that if we ufe a becoming plainnefs and fe- 
rioufnefs, in warning them of their danger, we lhall quite 
overwhelm them, and haften the dying moment which is 
advancing by fuch fwift fteps. O let me intreat you, for 
our fakes, and much more for your own, that you do not 
drive us to fuch fad extremities : But that if you are con- 
vinced, as I hope fome of you may now be, that the care 
of the foul is that needful thing we have reprefented, let the 
conviction work, let it drive you immediately to the 
throne of grace, that from thence you may derive that 

wifdom 
* 2 Cor. vi. 2. f ** e k- 8» 7> 8, 



urged a s the o n e Thing needful, t f 

wifdom and ftrength which may direct you in all the intri- 
cacies which entangle you, and animate you in the midfl 
of difficulty and diicouragement. 

3. 1 would, in the laft place, addrefs myfelf to thofe hap- 
py fouls, who have in good earned attended to the one 
thing needful. 

I hope when you fee how commonly it is neglected, neg- 
lected, indeed, by many, whofe natural capacities, im- 
provements, and circumftances in life, appear to you fu- 
perior to your own, you will humbly acknowledge, that 
it was diftingutfhing grace that brought you into this hap- 
py (late, and formed you to this mod neceffary care. — - 
Biefs the Lord, therefore, who hath given you that counfel* 
in virtue of which you can fay that he is your portion — Re- 
joice in the thought that the great concern is fecured ; as 
it is natural for us to do, when forne important affair is dif- 
patched which has long lain before us, and which we 
kave been inclined to put off from one day to another, 
but have at length ftrenuouily and fuccefsfully attended. 
~— Remember ftill to continue acting on thefe great prin- 
ciples which at firft determined your choice ; and feriouf- 
ly confider, that thofe, who deiire their life may at laft be 
given them for a prey, muft continue on their guard, in. 
all ftages of their journey thro' a wilder nefs, where daily 
dangers are ftill furrounding them. Having fecured the 
great concern, make yourfelves eafy as to others of fmall- 
er importance. You have chofen the kingdom of God, and 
his righteoufnefs .> other things therefore Jhall he added unto you j 
and if any which you defire mould not be added, com- 
fort yourfelves with this thought, that you have the good 
part which can never he taken aivay. And, not to enlarge 
on thefe obvious hints, which muft fo often occur, be ve* 
ry folicitous that others may be brought to a care about 
the one thing needful. If it be needful for you, it is fo for 
your children, your friends, your fervants. Let them, 
therefore, fee your concern in this refpect for them as well 
as for yourfelves. Let parents, efpecially, attend to this 
exhortation, whofe care for their offspring often exceeds 
in other refpects and fails in this. Remember that your 
children may never live to enjoy the effects of your la- 
bour 



25 The Care of the Soul, &c. 

bour and concern, to get them eftates and portions.— 
The charges of their funerals may, perhaps, be all their 
fhare of what you are fo anxioufly careful to lay up for 
them. And O ! Think what a fword would pierce thro* 
your very heart, if you Ihould Hand by the corpfe of a 
beloved child with this reflection, " This poor creature 
has done with life before it learnt its great bufmefs in it, 
and is gone to eternity, which I have feldom been warn- 
ing it to prepare for, and which, perhaps, it learnt of me 
to forget." 

On the whole, may this grand care be awakened in 
thofe by whom it hath been hitherto neglected ; may it 
be revived in each of our minds. And that you may be 
encouraged to purfue it with greater cheerfulnefs, let me 
conclude with this comfortable thought, that in propor- 
tion to the necefTity of the cafe, is the provifion which di- 
vine grace has made for our ailiftance. If you are difpof- 
ed to fet down at ChriiVs feet, he will teach you by his 
word and fpirit. If you commit this precious jewel, 
which is your eternal all, into his hand, he will preferye 
it unto that day, and will then produce it richly adorned, 
and glorioully improved to his own honour, and to your 
everlafting joy. 

AMEN. 



irr ri r mil 



To the Reverend 
Dr. ISAAC WATTS. 



Reverend and Dear Sir f 



Wi 



ITH the moll affectionate gratitude and re£ 
pe<5t, I beg leave to prefent to you a book, which owes 
its exiftence to your requeft, its copioufnefs to your plan, 
and much of its perfpicuity to your review, and to the ufe 
I made of your remarks on that part of it, which your 
health and leifufe would permit you to examine, I ad- 
drefs it to you, not to beg your patronage to it, for of 
that I am already well allured ; and much lefs from any 
ambition of attempting your character, for which, if I 
were more equal to the fubjedt, I fhould think this a very- 
improper place : But chiefly from a fee ret delight, 
which I find in the thought of being known to thofe whom 
this may reach, as one whom you have honoured, not 
only with your friendship, but with fo much of your e£» 
teem and approbation too, as muft fubftantially appear 
in your committing a work to me, which you had your- 
felf projected as one of the moft confiderable fervices of 
your life. 

I have long thought the love of popular applaufe a 
meannefs, which a philofophy far inferior to that of our 
divine Majler might have taught us to conquer. But to 
be efteemed by eminently great and good men, to whom 
we are intimately known, appears to me, not only one of 
the moft folid atteftations of fome real worth, but, next 
to the approbation of God and our own confeiences, one 
of its moft valuable rewards. It will, I doubt not, be 
found fo in that world, to which fpirits like yours are 
tending, and for which through divine grace you have 
obtained fo uncommon a cjegree of ripenefs. And per- 
mit me, fir, while I write this, torefrefh myfelfwith the 
hope, that when that union of hearts, which has fo long 
c iubfifted 



3 o DE DIC ATION. 

fub lifted between us, fhall arrive to its full maturity and 
endearment there, it will be matter of mutual delight, to 
recoiled, that you have affigned me, and that I have in 
fome degree, executed a talk, which may, perhaps, under 
the bleffing of God, awaken and improve religious fenti- 
ments in the minds of thofe whom we leave behind us, and 
of others who may arife after us, in this vain, traniitory, 
enfnaring world. 

Such is the improvement you have made of your ca- 
pacities for fervice, that I am fully perfuaded, heaven 
has received very few, in thefelatter ages, who have done 
fo much to ferve its interefts here below ; few, who have 
laboured in this belt of caufes with equal affiduity, and 
equal fuccefs. And therefore, I cannot but join with all 
who wifh well to the Chrijlian intereji among us, in ac- 
knowledging the goodnefs of providence to you and to the 
church of ' Chrift, in prolonging a life at once fo valuable 
and fo tender, to fuch an advanced period. With them, 
fir, I rejoice, that God hath given you to poifefs in fo ex- 
traordinary a degree, not only the confeioumefs of intend- 
ing great benefit to. the world, but the fatisfaction of 
having effected it, and of feeing fuch an harveft already 
fpringing up, I hope as an earneft of a much more copi- 
ous increafe from thence. With multitudes more I blefs. 
God, that you are not, in this evening of fo afflicted and yet 
fo laborious a day, rendered entirely incapable of ferv- 
ing the public from the prefs, and from the pulpit ; and 
that amidft the pain which your active fpirit feels, when 
thefe pleafmg fervices furTer long interruptions from bod- 
ily weaknefs, it may be fo fmgularly refreihed by reflect- 
ing on that fphere ofexteniive ufefulnefs, in which by 
your writings you continually move. 

I congratulate you, dear fir, that, while you are in a 
multitude of families, and fchools of the lower clafs, conde- 
fcending to the humble, yet important work of forming 
infant minds to the firft rudiments of religious knowledge 
and devout imprefTions, by your various catechifms and di- 
vine fangs ; you are alio daily reading lectures of logic, and 
other ufeful branches of philofophy, to ftudious youth : 
And this, not only in private academies, but in the molt 
public and celebrated feats of learning j nor merely in 

Scotland 



DEDICATION. |f 

Scotland, and in our American Colonies, (where, from fome 
peculiar confiderations, it might moft naturally be ex- 
pected ;)but, through the amiable candor of fome ex- 
cellent men, and accomplished tutors, in our Engljh uni- 
ver/ities too. I congratulate you, that you are teaching, 
no doubt, hundreds of Miniflers, and thousands of private 
Ghrijlians, by your Sermons , and other theological writings ; 
fo happily calculated to diifufe through their minds that 
light of knowledge, and through their hearts that fervour 
of piety, which God has been pleafed to enkindle in your 
own. But above all, I congratulate you, that by 'your 
facred poetry, efpecially by your P/alms, and your Hymns, 
you are leading the worfhip, and I truft alio animating 
the devotion of myriads, in our public aflemblies every 
fabbath, and in their families or clofets every day. This, 
fir, at leaft fo far as it relates to the J'ervice of the /ancillary, is 
an unparalleled favour, by which God hath been pleafed 
to diftinguifh you, I may boldly fay it, beyond any of his 
fervants now upon earth. Well may it be efteemed. a 
glorious equivalent, and indeed, much more than an equiva- 
lent, for all thofe views of ecclefia/lical preferment, to which 
fuch talents, learning, virtues, and intereft might have 
entitled you in an eftabliihment ; and, I doubt not, but 
you joyfully accept it as fuch. 

Nor is it eafy to conceive, in what circumftances you 
could, on any fuppofition, have been eafier and happier, 
than in thai pious and truly honorable family, in which, as I 
verily believe, in fpecial indulgence both to you and to 
it, providence has been pleafed to appoint that you mould 
fpend fo confiderable a part of your life. It is my ear- 
nelt prayer, that all the remainder of it may be ferene, 
ufeful - and pleafant. And as, to my certain knowledge, 
your compofiiions have been the fingular comfort of many 
excellent Ghrijlians (fbrrie of them numbered among my 
deareft friends,) on their dying beds ; for I have heard 
flanks of them repeated from the lips of feveral, who: 
were doubtiels in a few hours, to begin the /ong 0/ Mo/es 
and the Lamb : So I hope and truft, that when God fhall 
call you to that /alvation, for which your faith and pa- 
tieace have fo long been waiting, he will fried around you 
the choiceft beams of his fovour, and gladden your 

heait 



3* DED I CATION. 

heart with confolations, like thofe which you have been the 
happy inftrument of administering to others. 

In the mean time, fir, be affured, that I am not a little 
animated in the various labours to which providence has 
called me, by reflecting, that I have fucb a contemporary , 
and efpecially fuch a friend ; whofe fmgle prefence would 
be to me as that of a cloud ofivitnejfs here below, to a- 
waken my alacrity in the race that is fit before me. And I 
am perfuaded, that while I fay this, I fpeak the fentiment 
of many of my brethren, even of various denominations : 
A confideration, which I hope will do fome thing towards 
reconciling a heart fo generous as yours, to the delay of 
that exceeding and eternal weight of glory , which is now fo 
nearly approaching. Yes, my honored friend, you will, 
I hope, cheerfully endure a little longer continuance in 
life amidft all its infirmities ; from an aflurance, that 
while God is pleafed to maintain the exercife of your rea- 
fon it is hardly poffible that you mould live in vain, to the 
world, or yourfelf. Every day, and every trial, is bright- 
ening your crown, and rendering you ftill more meet for 
an inheritance among the faints in light. Every word that 
you drop from the pulpit, has now, furely, its peculiar 
weight : The eyes of many are on their afcend'ing prophet, 
eagerly intent that they may catch, if not his mantle, at 
leaft, fome divine fentence from his lips, which may long 
guide their ways and warm their hearts. This iolicitude 
your friends bring into thofe happy moments, in which 
they are favored with your converfe in private ; And when 
you are retired from them, your prayers, I doubt not, 
largely contribute towards guarding your country, wa- 
tering the church, and bleffing the world. Long may 
they continue to anfwer thefe great ends ! And permit 
me, fir, to conclude with expreffing my chearful confi- 
dence, that, in thofe bed moments you are often particu- 
larly mindful of one, who fo highly eiteems, fo greatly 
needs, and fo warmly returns that remembrance, as, Rev- 
erend and dear fir, 

Tour moft affeSionate brother, 
And obliged humble fervant, 

P. DODDRIDGE. 
Northampton, Dec* 13, 1744. 



33 



PREFACE. 



X jHE feveral hints given in the dedication, and the 
Jirjl Chaffer of this treatife, which contains a particular 
Plan of the defign, render it unneceilary to introduce it 
with along preface. Some of my readers may, perhaps, 
remember, that feveral years ago I promifed this work to 
the public, in the preface to the fecond edition of my Sermons 
on the power and grace of Chrifl, &c. My much honoured 
friend Dr. Watts had laid the fchtme, efpecially of the 
former part : But as thofe indifpofitions, with which (to 
the unfpeakable grief of the churches,) God has been 
pleafed to exercife him, had forbid his hopes of being able 
to add this to his many labours of love to immortal fouls, 
he was pleafed in a very affectionate and importunate 
manner to urge me to undertake it. And I blefs God 
with my whole heart, not only that he hath carried me 
thro' this delightful talk, (for fuch indeed I have found it,) 
but alfo that he hath fpared that worthy and amiable per- 
fon to fee it accomplifhed, and given him ftrength and 
fpirit to review fo confiderable a part of it. His approba- 
tion, expreifed in ftronger terms than modefty will per- 
mit me to repeat, encourages me to hope, that it is exe- 
cuted in fuch a manner, as may, by the divine bleffing, 
render it of fome general fervice. And I the rather ex- 
pect it will be fo, as it now comes abroad into the world, 
not only with my own prayers and his, but alfo with thoie 
of many other pious friends, which I have been particularly 
careful to engage for its fuccefs. 

Into whatever hands this work may come, I muft de- 
fire, that before any pafs their judgment upon it, they 
would pleafe to read it through ; that they may difcern 
the connection between one part of it and another. 
Which I the rather requeit, becaufe I have long obferved, 
that Chriflians of different parties have been eagerly laying 
hold on particular parts of the fyflem of divine truth, and have 
been contending about them, as if each had been alh, or 

as 



$4 PREFACE. 

as if the feperation of the members from each other, and 
from the head, were the prefervation of the body, inftead 
of its deftruction. They have been zealous to efpoufe the 
defence and to maintain the honour and ufefulnefs of each 
apart ; whereas their honour as well as ufefulnefs, feems 
to me to lie much in their connexion. And fufpicions have 
often arifen between the refpeclive defenders of each, 
which have appeared as unreafonable and abfurd, as if 
all the preparations for fecuring one part of a fhip in a 
ftorra were to be cenfured as a contrivance to fink the reft. 
I pray God, to give to all his mini/ten, and people, more 
and more of the fpirit of wifdom,and of love and of a found 
mind ; and to remove far from us thofe mutual jealoufies 
and animosities, which hinder our acting with that unanimity, 
which is necellary in order to the fuccefsful carrying on 
our common warfare againft the enemies of Chriftianity. We 
may he fure, thefe enemies will never fail to make their 
own advantage of our multiplied divifons, and fevere con- 
tefts with each other : But they mull necefTarily lofe both 
their ground and their influence, in proportion to the de- 
gree, in which the energy of Chrijlian principles is felt, to 
unite and transform the hearts of thofe by whom they are 
grofeifed. 

I take this opportunity of adding, that as this treatifc 
may be looked upon as the fequel of my Sermons on regener- 
ation, though in fomething of a different method ; a fec- 
ond edition of thofe Sermons is now publiihed (in compli- 
ance with the requeft of many of my friends,) in the fame 
form and fize with this book. I have been folieitous to 
make them both as cheap* as poffible, that I may fall in 
with the charitable defigns of thofe who may purpofe to 
give them away. There is howerer an edition of this 
treatife in OcJavo, for fuch as rather chufe to have it in a 
larger character and fairer form. 

I have iludied the greater! plainnefs offpeech, that the 
lowed of my readers may, if poffible, be able to under- 
stand every word ; and I hope, perfons of a more elegant 
tafte and refined education will pardon what appeared to 
me fo neceiTary a piece of charity. Such a care in practi- 
cal writings feems one important inftance of that honouring 
all men, which our amiable and condefcending leligion 

teaches 



P R E F J C E. 3J 

teaches us : And I have been particularly obliged to my 
worthy patron, for what he hath done to fhorten fome of 
the fentences, and to put my meaning into plainer and 
more familiar words. Yet I dare fay, the world will not 
fufpecl: it of having contracted any impropriety or inele- 
gance of language, by paffing through he hands of Dr. 

I muft add one remark here, which I heartily wifh I ^ 
had not omitted in the firft edition, vi%. That though I do 
in this book confider my reader as fucceffively in a great 
variety of fuppofed circumflances, beginning with thofe 
of a thoughtlefs /inner, and leading him through feveral 
ftages of conviclion, terror, &c. as what may be previous 
to his fmcerely accepting the gofpel, and devoting himfelf 
to the fervice of God ; yet I would by no means be 
thought to infmuate, that every one, who is brought to 
that happy refolution, arrives at it through thofe particular 
Jleps, or feels agitations of mind equal in degree to thofe I 
have defcribed. Some fenfe of fin, and fome ferious and 
humbling apprehenfion of our danger and mifery in con* 
fequence of it, mud, indeed, be necefiary to difpofe us to 
receive the grace of the gofpel, and the faviour who is 
there exhibited to our faith. But God is pleafed fome* 
times to begin the work ofiiis grace en the heart, almoft 
from the firft dawning of reafon, and to carry it en by 
fuch gentle and infenfible degrees, that very excellent 
peifons, who have made the mofl eminent attainments in 
the divine life, have been unable to recount any remarka- 
ble hiftory of their converfion : And fo far as I can learn, 
this is moft frequently the cafe with thofe of them, who 
have enjoyed the benefits of a pious education, when it has 
not been fucceeded by a vicious and licentious ycuth.— - 
God forbid therefore, that any fuch fhould be fo infenfible 
of their own happinefs, as to fall into perplexity with re- 
lation to their fpiritual ftate, for want of being able to 
trace fuch a rife of religion in their minds, as it was necef- 
fary on my plan for me to defcribe, and exemplify here.-— 
I have fpoke my fentiments on this head fo fully in the 
Vlllth of my Sermons on Regeneration, that I think none 
who has read, and remembers the general contents of it, 
can be in danger of rniftaking my meaning here* £ut as 



3* 



P R E F A C E\ 



it is very pofUble, this book may fall into the hands of 
many, who have not read the other, and have no oppor- 
tunity of consulting it, I thought it proper to infert this 
caution in the preface to this ; and I am much obliged to 
that worthy and excellent perfon, who kindly reminded 
me of the expediency of doing it. 



THE 
RISE and PROGRESS 

O F 

RELIGION IN THE SOUL. 



CHAP. I. 

THE INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK, WITH SOME 
GENERAL ACCOUNT OF ITS DESIGN. 

That true religion is very rar£, appears from comparing the na* 
tore of it with the lives and char abler s of men around us. — ■ 
§. i, 2. The want of it, matter ofjujl lamentation. §. g. 
To remedy this evil, is the defign of the enfuing treatife : § . 4. 
To which, therefore, the author earnejlly befpeaks the atten- 
tion of the reader, as his own heart is deeply inter ejled in it. 
§. 5,^6. A general plan of the work ; of which the fifteen 
Jirfl chapters relate chiefly to the rise of religion, and the 
remaining chapters to its progress. §. 7, — 12. The 
chapter concludes wilh a Prayer for the fuccefs of the work. 

§. 1. W HEN we look round about us with an at- 
tentive eye, and confider the characters and purfuits of 
men, we plainly fee, that though, in the original conftitu- 
tion of their natures, they only, of all the creatures that 
dwell on the face of the earth, be capable of religion, yet 
many of them lhamefully neglect it. And whatever dif- 
ferent notions people may entertain of what they call re~ 
ligira, all muft agree in owning, that it is very far from 
being an univerfal thing. 

(§. 2. Religion, initsmoft general view, is fuch a fenfe 
God on the foul, and fuch a conviction of our obliga- 
ns to him, and of our dependance upon him, as fhall 
D engage 



3$ Religion not an univerfal thing* 

engage us to make it our great care, to conduct ourfelves 
in a manner which we have reafon to believe willbepleaf- 
ing to him. Now when we have given this plain account 
of religion, it is by no means neceifary, that we mail fearch 
among the lavages of the African or American nations, to 
rind inftances of thofe who are ftrangers to it. When we 
view the conduct of the generality of people at home, in 
a Chrijlian and protcfl ant nation, in a nation whofe obliga- 
tions to God have been lingular, almoft beyond thofe of 
any other people under heaven, will any one prefume to 
fay, that religion has an univerfal reign among us ? Will 
any one fuppofe, that it prevails in every life ? That it 
reigns in every heart ? Alas ! the avowed infidelity, the 
prophanation of the name and day of God, the drunken- 
nefs, the lewdnefs, the injuftice, the falihood, the pride, 
the prodigality, the bafe felfifhnefs, and ftupid infenfi- 
bility of the fpiritual and eternal interefts of themfelves 
and others, which fo generally appear among us, loudly 
proclaim the contrary. So that one would imagine upon 
this view, that thoufands and ten thoufands thought the 
neglefi, and even the contempt of religion, were a glory, 
rather than a reproach. And where is the neighbour- 
hood, where is the fociety, where is the happy family, 
(confilting of any cohfiderable number,) in which on a 
more exact examination, we find reafon to fay, " religion 
fills even this little circle?" There is, perhaps, a free- 
dom from any grofs and fcandalous immoralities, an ex- 
ternal decency of behaviour, an attendance on the out- 
ward forms of worihip in public, and (here and there) in 
the family ; yet, amidit all this, there is nothing which 
looks like the genuine actings of the fpiritual and divine 
life. There is no appearance of love to God, no rever- 
ence for his prefence, no defire of his favour as the high- 
ell good : There is no cordial belief of the gofpel of falva- 
iion ; no eager folicitude to efcape that condemnation which 
we have incurred by fin ; no hearty concern to fecure that 
eternal life, which Chrifl has purchafed and fecured for his 
people, and which he freely promifes to all who will re- 
ceive him. Alas ! whatever the love of a friend, or even 
of a parent, can do, whatever inclination there may be, 
to hope all things > aj.id believe all things the moil favourable ; 

evidence 



Ch. i. The want of it to be greatly lament ea*. 39 

evidence to the contrary will force itfelf upon the mind, 
and extort the unwilling conclufion ; that, whatever elfe 
may be amiable in this dear friend, in that favorite child, 
** religion dwells not in its bread." 

§. 3. To a heart that firmly believes the go/pel, and 
views perfons and things in the light of eternity, this is 
one of the moft mournful confiderations in the world. — 
And, indeed, to fuch a one, all the other calamities and 
evils of human nature appear trifles, when compared with 
this ; the abfence of real religion, and that contrariety to ic 
which reigns in fo many thoufands of mankind. Let this 
be cured, and all the other evils will eafily be borne ; 
nay, good will be extracted out of them : But if this 
continue, it bringeth forth fruit unto death ; (a) and in con- 
fequence of it, multitudes, who ihare the entertainments 
of an indulgent providence with us, and are at lead allied 
to us by the bond of the fame common nature, mud in a 
few years be fwept away into utier dflrucTwn, and ba 
plunged beyond redemption into everhifling burnings. 

§. 4. I doubt not, but there are many, under thofe va- 
rious forms of religious profeffion, which have fo unhap- 
pily divided us in this nation, who are not only lament- 
ing this in public, if their office in life calls them to an 
opportunity of doing it ; but are likewife mourning 
before God in fecret, under a fenfe of this fad date of 
things ; and who can appeal to him thntfearches all hearts 9 
as to the fmcerity of their defires to revive the languifli- 
ing caufe of vital chrijlianity and fubdantial piety. And, 
among the red., the author of this treatife may with confi- 
dence fay, it is this which animates him to the prefent 
attempt, in the midd of fo many other cares and labours, 
For this h : x to lay afide many of thofe curious 

amufern ice, which might fuit his own private 

tafte ; and, perhaps, open a way to fome reputation in the 
learned -this, he is willing to wave the la- 

boured on ents of fp'eecji, that he may, if poffible, 
defcend to the capacity of the lowed part of mankind. 
For this, he would endeavour to convince the judgment, 
and to reach the heart of every reader. And, in a word, 
for this, without any dread of the name of an enthufiaft, 
whoever may at random throw it out upon the occafion, 
(a) Rom. vii. 5, Jig 



40 The Author's defign to promote religion. Ch. I* 

he wcul d, as it were, enter with you into your clofet, from 
day to day ; and, with all plainnefs and freedom, as 
well as ferioufnefs, would diicourfe to you of the great 
things which he has learnt from the chriftian revelation, 
and on which he afluredly knows your everlafling happi- 
nefs to depend : That if you hitherto have lived without 
religion, you maybe now awakened to the confideration 
of it, and may be inftructed, in its nature and impor- 
tance ; or, that if you are already, thro' divine grace, ex- 
perimentally acquainted with it, you may be affined in 
making a greater progrefs. 

J. 5. But he earneflly intreats this favour of you, that, 
as it is plainly aferious bufinefs we are entering upon, you 
w r ould be pleafed to give him a ferious and an attentive 
hearing. He intreats, thatthefe. addreifes, and thefe medi- 
tations, may be perufed at leifure, and be thought over in 
retirement ; and thatyouwoulddohimand yourfeli the juf- 
iice to believe the rep refentations which are here made, and 
the warnings which are here given, to proceed from hncerity 
and love ? from an heart, which would not defignedly give 
one moment's unnecelfary pain to the meaneft creature on 
the face of the earth, and much lefsto any human mind. 
If he be importunate, it isbecaufe he at leafr imagines, that 
there is juft reafon for it ; and fears, left, amidft the multi- 
tudes who are undone by the utter neglect of religion, and 
among thofe who are greatly damaged for want of a more 
refolute and conftant attendance to it, this may be the 
cafe of fome into whofe hands this treatife may fall. 

4. 6. He is a barbarian. and deferves not tobe called a man, 
who can look on the forrows of hisfellow creatures without 
drawing out his/cut unto them, and tvi/hing, at lead, that it 
were in the power of his hand to help them. Surely earth 
would be an heaven to that man, who could go about from 
place to place fcattering happinefs wherefoever he came, 
tho' it were only the body that he were capable of reliev- 
ing, and though he could impart nothing better than the 
happinefs of a moral life. But the happinefs rifes, in pro- 
portion to the nature and the degree of the good which he 
imparts. Happy, are we ready to fay, were thofe hon- 
oured fervants of Chrift, who, in the early days of his 
church, w 7 ere the benevolent andfympathizing inftruments 

af 



Ch. I. The happinefs of fuccetding in h. 42 

of conveying miraculous healing to thofe whofe cafes 
feemed defperate ; who poured in upon the blind and the 
deaf the pleafures of light and found, and called up the 
dead to the powers of action and enjoyment. But this is 
an hono'dr and happinefs, which it is not fit for God com- 
monly to beftow on mortal men. Yet there have been in 
every age, and, bleffed be his name, there frill are thofe, 
whom he has condescended to make hisinftruments in con- 
veying nobler and more lading blefiings than thefe to their 
fellow-creatures. Death hath long fmce veiled the eyes, 
and flopped the ears of thofe, who were the fubjedts of mi- 
raculous healing, and recovered its empire over thofe who 
were once recalled from the grave. But the fouls, who 
are prevailed upon to receive the gofpel, live for ever. 
God has owned the labours of his faithful miniRers in eve- 
ry age, to produce theiebleffed effects ; andfome of them 
being dead, yet /peak b) with power and fuccefs in this im- 
portant caufe. Wonder not then, if living and dying, I 
be ambitious of this honour ; and if my mouih be freely 
opened, where I can truly fay, my heart is enlarged, (c) 

§. 7. In forming my general plan I have been felicitous, 
that this little treatife might, if poffible, be ufeful to all 
its readers, and contain fomething fuitable to each. I 
will therefore take the wan and the chriflian, in a great va- 
riety of c'rrcumjlances. I will firft fuppofe my f elf addrefling 
one of the vafl number of thoughtlefs creatures, who have 
hitherto been utterly unconcerned about religion ; and 
will try what can be done, by all plainnefs and earneft- 
nefs of addrefs, to awaken him from this fatal lethargy, to 
a care, (chap. 2.) an affectionate and an immediate care 
about it, (chap. 3.^ I will labour to fix a deep and aw- 
ful conviclion of guilt upon his confeience, (chap. 4.,/ and 
to ftrip him of his vain excufes and his flattering hopes. 
(chap. 5.) I will read to him, O ! that I could fix on his 
heart, that fentence, that dreadful fentence, which a right- 
eous and an almighty GOD hath denounced againft him 
as a firmer ; (chap. 6 ) and endeavour to fhew him, in 
how helphfs a fate he lies under this condemnation, as to 
any capacity he has of delivering himfelf. (chap. J.J 
But I do not mean to leave any in fo terrible a fituation ; 
I will joyfully proclaim the glad tidings of pardon and faha* 

{b) Heb. xi. 4. d (cj 2 Cor, vi.il. tion 



42 A general plan of the worl. Ch. r# 

tion by Chr'ijl Jefus our Lord, which is all the fupport and 
confidence of my own foul i (chap. 8. ) and then I will 
give fome general view of the way, by which this fahation 
is to be obtained ; (chap. 9.) urging the finner to accept of 
it, as affectionately as I can ; (chap. 10. J tho' nothing 
can be fufficiently pathetic, where, as in this matter, the 
life of an immortal foul is in question. 

§. 8. Too probable it is, that fome will, after all this, 
remain infenfible ; and therefore, that their fad cafe may 
not incumber the following articles, I fhall here take a 
folemn leave of them : (chap. 1 1.) And then {hall turn and 
addrefs myfelf, as companTonately as I can, to a mod 
contrary character ; I mean, to afoul overwhelmed with a 
fenfe of the greatnefs of its fins, and trembling under the 
burthen, as if there were no more hope for him in God, 
(chap. 12. ) And that nothing may be omitted, which 
may give folid peace to the troubled fpirit, I fhall endeav- 
our to guide its enquiries as to the evidences of fincere repent- 
ance and faith ; (chap. 13. ) which will be farther illus- 
trated by a more particular view of the fever al branches of 
the chriflian temper, fuch as may ferve at once to aflift the 
reader in judging what he is, and to mew him what he 
Jhould labour to be. (chap. 14.^ This will naturally lead ta 
a view of the need we have of the influences of the blejfed fpir- 
it, to affift us in the important and difficult work of the 
true chriflian, and of the encouragement we have to hope for 
thefe divine ajfflances, (chap. 15.) In an humble depen- 
dence on which, I fhall then enter an the confideration 
of feveral cafs which often occur in the chriflian life, in 
which particular addrejes to the confcience may be requi- 
site and ufeful. 

§. 9. As fome peculiar difficulties and difcourage- 
ments attend thefrjl entrance on a religious courfe, it will 
here be our firit care to animate the young convert againft 
them. (chap. 16. ) And that it may be done more effec- 
tually, I mall urge a folemn dedication of himfeif to God ; 
(chap. 17.) To be confirmed by entering into the full 
communion of the church by an approach to the facred table, 
(chap. 18.) TJiat thefe engagements may be more happily 
fulfilled, we fhall endeavour to draw a more particular plan 
©I" that devout, regular, and accurate courfe, which ought 

daily 



£li. r. A general plan of the work 43 

daily to be attended to: (chap. 19.) And becaufe the 
idea will probably rife fo much higher, than what is the 
general prance, even of good men, we mail endeavour to 
perfuade the reader to male the attempt, hard as it may 
feem ; 'chap. 20.) and fhall caution him againil various 
temptations, which might, otherwise draw him afide to neg- 
ligence and fin. {chap 21.) 

§. 10. Happy will it be for the reader, if thefe exhor- 
tations and cautions be attended to with becoming regard; 
but as it is, alas, too probable, that notwithstanding all, 
the infirmities of nature will fometimes prevail, we fhall 
confider the cafe of deadnefs and languor in religion, which 
often fteals upon us by inienfible degrees ; {chap. 22.) 
from whence there is too eafy a paffage to that terrible 
One of a return into known and deliberate Jin. [chap. 23.) 
And as the one or the other of thefe tends, in a propor- 
tionable degree, to provoke the bleffed God to hide his face, 
and his Injured fpirit to withdraw, that melancholy condi- 
tion will be taken into a particular furvey. [chap. 24.) 
I fhall then take notice alfo of the cafe of great and heavy 
qffliSions in life ; (chap 25.) a difcipline which the bell 
of men have reafon to expect, efpecially when they back- 
Jlide from God, and yield to their Spiritual enemies. 

J. 11. Inftances of this kind will, I fear, be too fre- 
quent ; yet, I truft, there will be many others, whofe 
path like the dawning light, will Jhine more and more until the 
perfeel day. ( d And therefore Ave fhall endeavour, in the beft 
manner we can, to affilt. the chrtftian in pajjing a true judg- 
ment on the growth of grace m his heart, (chap 26.) as we 
had done before in judging of its fmcerity. And as 
nothing conduces more to the advance of grace, than the 
lively exercife of love to God, and a holy joy in him, we 
fhall heie remind the real chrijlian of thofe mercies, which 
tend to excite that love and joy ; [chap. 27.) and, in the 
views of them, to animate him to thofe vigorous efforts of 
ufefulnefs in life, which fo well become his character, and 
will have fo happy an efficacy on brightnlng his crown. 
[chap. 28. Supposing him to acl: accordingly, we fhall 
then labour to illuftrate and affift the delight with which 
he may look forward to the awful folemnities of death and 
judgment : (chap. 29.) And fhall clofe the fcene by accom- 

(d) Prov. iv. 18, panying 



44 A general plan of the work: Ch.'i* 

panying him.as it were, to the neareft confines of xh.2fi.dark 
valley t through which he istopafs to glory; giving him fuch 
direr/ions, as may ieem raoft iubfervient to his honouring 
God, and adorning religion, by his dying behaviour. — 
(chap. 30.) Nor am I without a pleafmg hope, that, 
through the divine bleiling and grace, I may be in fome 
inftances fo fuccelsful, as to leave thofe triumphing in the 
views of judgment and eternity, and glorifying God by a 
true chnjiian iiie and death, whom I found trembling in the 
appreheniions of future mifery ; or, perhaps in a much 
more dangerous and miferable circumitance than that ; I 
mean, entirely forgetting the profpect, and funk into the 
mo ft itupid infenfibtfitj of thofe things, for an attendance to 
which the human mind was formed, and in comparifon of 
which all the puifuits of this trartfitory life are emptier 
than wind, and lighter than a feather. 

§.12. Such a variety of heads mu ft, to, be fure, be 
handled but briefly, as we intend to bring them within a 
bulk of a moderate volume. I fnall not, therefore, dif- 
cufs them, as a. preacher might properly do in fermons, in 
which the truths of religion are profeifedly to be explain- 
ed and taught, defended and improved, in a wide varie- 
ty, and long detail of proportions, arguments, objections, 
replies, and inferences marihalled and numbered under 
their diftinct generals. I fhall here fpeak in a loofer and 
freer manner, as a friendlo a friend ; juft as I would do, 
if" I were to be in perfon admitted to a private audience, 
by one whom I tenderly loved, and whofe circumftance 
and character I knew to be like that, which the title of one 
chapter or another of this treatife defcribes. And when I 
have difcourfed with him a little while, which will feldom 
be fo long as half an hour ; I fhall, as it were, ftep afide, 
and leave him to meditate on what he has heard, or en-^ 
deavonr to affift him in fuch fervent addreffes to God, as it 
may be proper to mingle with thofe meditations. In the 
mean time, I will here take the liberty to pray over rny 
reader, and my work ; and to commend it folemnly to 
the divine blefling, in token of my deep convi&ion of 
and entire dependance upon it. And I am well per- 
fuaded, that ientiments like thefe are common, in the gen- 
eral to every faithful mimjkr, to every real chr'flian. 

A Prayer 



Ch. ' l, A Prayer for the 45 

A Prayer for the fuccefs of this work, in promoting the 
> Rife andFrogrek of Religion. 

" O TKOU great eternal original, and author, of 
all created being and happinefs ! I adore thee, who haft 
made man a creature capable of religion, and hail be- 
ftowed this dignity and felicity upon our nature, that it 
may be taught to fay, where is GOD our maker ? (e) I la- 
ment that degeneracy fpread over the whole human race, 
which has turned our glory iniofhame, \ f ) and has rendered 
the forgetfulnefs of God ( unnatural as it is,) fo common, 
and fo univerfal a difeafe. Holy Father, we know it is thy 
prefence and thy teaching alone, that can reclaim thy 
wandring children ; can imprefs a fenfe ©f divine things 
on the. heart, .and render that fenfe lading and effectual. — 
From thee proceed ail good purpofes and defires ; and 
this defire above all, of diffufing wifdom, piety, and hap- 
pinefs in this world, which 1 though funk into fuch deep 
apoftacy,) thine infinite mercy hath not utterly forfaken. 
" Thou knoiveft, O Lord, the hearts of the children of 
men ; (g) and an upright foul, in the midft of all the cen- 
fures and fufpicions it may meet with, rejoices in thine in- 
timate knowledge of its moft fecret fentiments and princi- 
ples of action. Thou knoweft the fmcerity and fervency, 
with v/bich thine unworthy fervant defires to fpread the 
knowledge of thy name, and the favour of thy gofpel, a- 
mong all to whom this woik may reach. Thou know- 
eft, that hadft thou given him an abundance of this world, 
it would have been, in his efteem, the nobleft pleafure that 
abundance could have afforded, to have been thine al- 
moner, in diftributing thy bounties to the indigent andne- 
ceffitous, and fo caufmg the forrowful heart to rejoice in 
thy goodnefs,difpenfed through his hands. Thou knoweft, 
that had ft thou given him, either by ordinary or extraor- 
dinary methods, the gifts of healing, it would have been 
■ his daily delight, to relieve the pains, the maladies, and the 
infirmities of men's bodies ; to have feen the languiihing 
countenance, brightened by returning health and cheer- 
fulnefs ; and much more to have beheld the roving diftracl:- 
ed mind, reduced to calmnefs and ferenity, in the exercife 

of 
(e) Job sxxv. 10 (f) Hof. iv. 7. (g) 2 Chron. vi. 30. 



46 Succefs of this work. - Ch.'x* 

of its rational faculties. Yet happier, far happier will 
he think himfelf, in thofe humble circumftances, in which 
thy providence hath placed him, if thou vouchfafe to hon- 
our thefe his feeble endeavours, as the means of relieving 
and enriching men's minds ; of recovering them from the 
madnefs of a finful ftate, and bringing back thy reafona- 
ble creatures to the knowledge, the fervice, and the en- 
joyment of their God ; or of improving thofe, who are 
already reduced. 

" O may it have that bleiled influence on the perfon, 
whofoever he be, that is now reading thefe lines, and on 
all who may read or hear them ! Let not my Lord be angry , 
if I prefume to afk, that however weak and contemptible 
this work may feem in the eyes of the children of this 
world, and however imperfect it really be, as well as the 
author of it unworthy, it may,neverthelefs./m? before thee ; 
and, thro' a divine power, be mighty to produce the rife 
and progrefs of religion in the minds of multitudes, in 
diftant places, and in generations yet to come. Impute 
it not, O God, as a culpable ambition, if 1 defire, that whatev- 
er becomes of my name, about which I would not lofe one 
thought before thee, this work, to which I am now ap- 
plying myfelf in thy ftrength, may be completed, and 
propagated far abroad ; that it may reach to thofe that are 
yet unborn, and teach them thy name and thy p'rafe, when 
the author has long dwelt in the duft : That fo, when 
he fhall appear before theeinthe great day of final account, 
his joy may be increafed, and his crown brightened, by 
numbers before unknown to each other, and to him ! But 
if this petition be too great to be granted to one, who pre- 
tends no claim, but thyfovereign grace, to hope for be- 
ing favoured with the leaft, give him to be in thine al- 
mighty hand the bleifed inftrument of converting and 
faving one foul : And if it be but one, and that the weakefl 
and meaner! of thofe who are capable of receiving this ad- 
dreis, it fh all be moil thankfully accepted as a rich recom- 
penfe for all the thought and labour it may coil: ; and, 
though it ihould be amidft a thoufand difappointments 
with refpecl to others, yet it mail be the fubjecT: of immor- 
tal fongs of praife to thee, 'O bleffed God, for and by eve- 
ry foul, whom, through the blood of J ef us and the grace of 

thy 



Ch. 2. Many are tarelefsjinners, ifl 

thyfpirit, thou haft faved ; and everlafting honours fhall 
be afcribed to the Father., to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, 
by the innumerable company of angels, and by the general aj'- 
fembly and church of Wejirft born of heaven. Amen. 



•CHAP. II. 

THE CARELESS SINNER AWAKENED. 

7/ is too fuppofable a cafe, that this treatife may come into fuch 
hands : §. i, 2. Since many, not grofsly vicious, fall under 
that characler, ^3,4. A more particular illuflration of 
this cafe, with an appeal to the reader whether it be not his 
own. §. 5, 6. Expoflulation with fuch ; <§. 7 — 9. more 
particularly, (1.) From acknowledged principles, relating to 
the nature of God, his univerfal prefence, agency, and perfec- 
tions, §. 1.0 — 12. (2.) From a view of perfonal obliga- 
tions to him. § . 13. ( 3 . ) From the danger of this neglecl, 
when confidered in its afpeel on a future flat e. ^.14- An 
appeal to the confeience, as already convinced. §. 15. Tranfi- 
tion to the fubjecJ of the next chapter. §. \6. The meditation 
cf ajipner, who, having been long thought lefs, begins to be a- 
wakened. 

$. 1. OHAMEFULLY and fatally as religion is neg- 
lected in the world, yet,blefTed be God, it has iome fmcere 
difdples ; children of wifdom, by whom, even in this foolifh 
and degenerate age, it isjuflified ; (a) who having, by di- 
vine grace, been brought to the knowledge of God in Chri/l, 
have faithfully devoted their hearts to him, and, by a nat- 
ural confequence, are devoting their lives to hisiervice. 
Could I be iiii e this treatife would fall into no hands but 
theirs, my work would be Inciter, eafier and pleafanter. 

§. 2. But among the thoufands that neglecl: religion, it 
is more than pofiible, that fome of my readers may he in- 
cluded j 

(a) Matt. xi. 19. 



4$ who are not grcffiyvlcious. Ch. 1. 

eluded : And I am fo deeply affected with their unhappy 
cafe, that the temper of my heart, as well as the proper 
method of myfubject, leads me, in thefirft place, to addrefs 
myfelf tofucb ; to apply to every o'ne'of them ; and there- 
fore to you, O reader, whoever you are, who may come un- 
der the denomination cf a carelefsfinner. 

§. 3. Be not, I befeech you, angry at the name. The 
phyficians of fouls muft fpeak plainly, or they may mur- 
der thofe whom they mould cure. I would make no harm 
and unreasonable fuppofition. I would charge you with 
nothing more, than is absolutely neceifary to convince 
you, that you are the perfon to whom I fpeak. I will 
not, therefore, imagine you to be a profane and abandon- 
ed profligate. I will not fuppofe, that yen allow yourfelf 
to blaiphemeG-ed.to d'ihonorhisnarrt.by cu (ternary fwear- 
ing, or grofsly to violate his fabbath, or commonly to neg- 
lect the indemnities of the public wc riliip : I will not im- 
agine that you have injured your neighbors, in their lives, 
their chaftity, or their poffeflions, either by violence or 
by fraud ; or that you have fcaiidaloufly debafed the ra- 
tional nature cf man, by that vile intemperance, which 
transforms us into the worit kind of brutes, or fomething 
beneath them. 

§. 4. In eppontion to all this, I will fuppofe, that you 
believe the exiftence and providence of God, and the truth 
of chriftianity, as a revelation from him : Of which, if 
you have any doubt, I muft defire ; that you would imme- 
diately feek your farisfaction elfewhere.* I fay, immediately ; 
becaufenot to believe it, is in in effect to difbelieve it ; and 
will makeyour luin equally certain, though, perhaps, it may 
leave it lefs aggravated, than if contempt and oppofition 
had been added to fufpicion and neglect. But fuppofmg 
you to be a nominal chriftian, and not a deift, or a fcep- 
tic ; I will alio fuppofe your conduct among men to be 
not only biamelefs,but amiable ; and that they who know you 

moll 

* In filch a cafe, I beg leave to refer the reader to my 
Three Sermons on the Evidence of Chr'ifl'ianiiy ; the laft of the 
Ten on the Power and Grace of Chnjt ; in which he may 
fee the hitherto unfhaken foundations of my own faithj 
in a fhort and, I hope, a clear vietr.. 



Ch. 2. 4n appeal to the reader, 4$ 

moft intimately, mud acknowledge, that you are juil and 
fober, humane and courteous, companionate and liberal : 
Yet, with all this, you may lack that one thing, (b) on 
which your eternal happinefs depends. 

§.. 5. I befeech you, reader, whoever you are, that 
you would now look ferioufly into your own heart, and afk 
it this one plain queftion, am I truly religions P Is the love 
of God the governing principle of my life ? Do I walk 
under a fenfe of his prefence i Do I converfe with him 
from day to day, in the exercife of prayer and praife ? 
And am I, on the whole, making his fervice my bufmefs 
-and my delight, regarding him as my matter and my 
father ? 

§.6. It is my prefent bufmefs, only to addrefs myfelf 
to the perfon whofe confcience anfwers in the negative.— 
And I would addrefs with equal plainnefs, and equal free- 
dom, to high and low, to rich and poor ; To you, who 
(as the fcripture with a dreadful propriety expreffes it) 
live without God in the world ; (c) and while, in words 
and forms, you oivn God, deny him in your actions, (d) and 
behave yourfelves in the main, (a few external ceremo- 
nies only excepted,) juft as you would do, if you believed, 
and were fure, there was no God. Unhappy creature, 
whoever you are ! your own heart condemns you immediately ; 
and how mueh more that God who is greater than your heart, 
and knoweth oil things, (e) He is in fecret, (f) as well as in 
public; and words cannot exprefs the delight,with which 
his children converfe with him alone : But in fecret you 
acknowledge him not ; you neither pray to him, nor praife 
him, in your retirements. Accounts, correfpondences, 
ftudies, may often bring you into your clofet ; but if 
nothing but devotion were to be tranfacted there, it would 
be to you quite an unfrequented pkce. And thus you 
go on from day to day, in a continual forgetfulnefs of God ; 
and are as thoughtlefs about religion, as if you had long 
fince demonftratedkto yourfelf, that it was arnere dream. 
If, indeed, you are fick, you will, perhaps, call to God for 
health , in any extreme danger, you will lift up your eyes 
and voice for deliverance : But as for the pardon of fin, 
E and 

(b) Mark x. 21. (c) Eph. ii. 12. (d)T& i. 16. 
C e i f J °to *f< 2<?t j$ Maw, yi. & 



£0 whether he le not carelefs. Ch. 2< 

and the other bleffings of the gofpel, you are not at all in- 
wardly folicitous about them ; though you profefs to be- 
lieve, that the gofpel is divine, and the bleffings of it eter- 
nal. All your thoughts, and all your hours, are divided 
between the bufinefs and the amufements of life : And 
if, now and then, an awful providence, or a ferious fer- 
mon or book awakens you, it is but a few days, or it may 
be a few hours, and you are the fame carelefs creature 
you ever were before. On the whole, you act, as if you 
were refolved to put it to the venture, and at your own 
expence to make the experiment, whether the confequen- 
ces of neglecting religion be indeed as terrible, as its min- 
ifters and friends have repiefented. Their remonurances 
do, indeed, fometimes force themfelves upon you, as con- 
sidering the age and country in which you live,) it is 
hardly poiTible entirely to avoid them ; but you have, - it 
may be, found oxit the art of Ifaiah's people, hearing to 
hear, and not undetfland ; and feeing to fee, and not perceive ; 
Your heart is -ivaxed groft , your eyes are clofed, and your ears 
heavy, (g) Under the very ordinances of worfhip, your 
thoughts are at the ends of the earth, (h) Every amufement 
of the imagination is welcome, if it may but lead away 
your mind from fo infipid, and fo difagreeable a fubjecT:, 
as religion. And probably the very laft time you were 
ina Worfhipping aiTembly, you managed, juft as you would 
have done, if you had thought, God knew nothing of 
your behaviour ; or, as if you did not think it worth one 
fingle care, whether he were pleafed. or difpleafed with 
it. 

( ; . 7. Alas! Is it then come to this, with all your be- 
lief of God, and providence, and fcripture ! That religion 
\& not worth a thought I That it is not worth one hour's fe- 
rious confideration and reflection, " what God and Chrift 
are ; and what you yourf elves are, and what you mult here- 
after be ?" Where then are all your rational faculties? 
How are they employed ? Or rather, how are they ftu- 
pified and benumbed ? 

'§. 8. The certainty and importance of the things cf which 
I fpeak are fo evident, from the principles which you 
yourfelves grant, that one might almoit fet a child or an 

idiot 
(g) lia. vi. o, 10. (h) Prov, xvii. 24, 



Ch. 2. Expqftulations with the carele/sj jr 

idiot to reafon upon them. And yet they are. neglected 
by thofe, who are grown up to underftanding. and, per- 
haps, fome of them to fuch refinement of underftanding, 
that they would think themfelves greatly injured, if they 
were not to be reckoned among the politer, and the more 
learned part of mankind. 

§. 9. ■ But it is not your neglect, firs, that caa deftroy 
the being or importance of fuch things as thefe. It may 
indeed deftroy you, but it cannot in the lead affect them. 
Permit me, therefore, having been myfelf awakened, to 
come to each of you, and fay, as the mariners didj to Jo* 
nah, while aileep in the midft of a much lefs dangerous 
itorm, what meaneji thou, OJleeper ? Arife, and call upon thy 
God. (i) Do you doubt as to the reafon ablenefs, or ne- 
ceflity of doing it ? / will demand, and anfwer me : (k) 
Anfwer me to your own conference, as one that mull, 'ere 
long, render another kind of account. 

§. 10. You own, that there is a God : And well 
you may : For you cannot open your eyes, but you muft 
fee the evident proofs of his being, his prefence and his a» 
gency. You behold him around you in every object.— 4- 
You feel him within you, if I may fo fpeak, in every 
vein, and in every nerve. You fee, and you feel, not on* 
ly that he has formed you with an exquifite wifdom, 
which no mortal man could ever fully explain or compre*- 
hend ; but that he is continually near you, wherever you 
are, and however you are employed, by day or by night; 
in him you live, and move, and have your being. (1) Com^ 
mon fenfe will tell you, that it is not your own wifdom, 
and power, and attention, that caufes your heart to beat, 
and your blood to circulate ; that draws in and fends 
out that breath of life, that precarious breath of a molt 
uncertain life, that is in your nojlrils. (m) Thefe things 
are done when you fleep, as well as in thofe waking 
moments, when you think not of the circulation of the 
blood, or of the neceffity of breathing, nor fo much as re* 
collect that you have a heart and lungs. Now what is 
this, but the hand of God, perpetually fupporting and ac- 
tuating thofe curious machines that he has made ? 

$.11. Nor 

(i) Jon. i. 6. (k) Job xxxviii. 3. (1) Acts xvji. 28, 

(m) Ifa. ii. 22. 






£2 from tht care and prefence of God i Ch. I % 

§. n. Nor Is this his care limited to you ; but, if you 
look all around you, far as your views can reach, you fee 
it extending itfelf on every fide : And O, how much far- 
ther than you can trace it ! Reflect on the light and heat, 
which the fun every, where difpenfes : on the air which 
furrounds all our globe, on the right temperature of 
which the life of the whole human race depends, and that 
t)f all the inferior creatures which dwell on the earth. 
Think of the fuitable and plentiful provijion mzdefor man 
md beajl ; the grafs, the grain, the variety of fruits, and 
herbs, and flowers ; every thing that nourifhes us, every 
thing that delights us ; and fay, whether it doth not 
fpeak plainly and loudly, that our almighty maker is 
near, and that he is careful of us, and kind to us. And 
while all thefe things proclaim his goodnefs, do they not* 
alfo proclaim his power ? For what power is any thing 
comparable to that,, which furnifhes out thefe gifts of roy- 
al bounty ; and which, unwearied and unchanged, pro- 
duces continually from day to day, and from age to age, 
fuch aflonifhing and magnificent effects, over the face of 
the whole eaith, and through all the regions of heaven ? 

$.12. It is then evident, that God is prefent, prefent with 
you at this moment, even God your creator and preferver» 
GWthe creator and preferver of the whole vifible and in- 
vifible world. And is he not prefent as a moft obfervant 
and attentive being ? He that formed the eye, fhall not he fee P 
He that planted the ear,Jhall not he hear ? He that teaches man 
knowledge, that gives him his rational faculties, and 
pours in on his opening mind all the light it receives 
by them, fhall not he know I (n) He who fees all the ne- 
ceffities of his creatures, fo feafonably to provide for them, 
fhall he not fee their actions too ; and feeing, fhall he not 
judge of them ? Has he given us a fenfe and difcernment 
cf what is good and evil, of what is true and falfe, of what 
is fair and deformed in temper and conduct ; and has he 
himfelfno difcernment of thefe things ? Trifle not with 
your conscience, which tells you at once, that he judges 
of it, and approves or condemns, as it is decent or inde- 
tent, reafonable or unreafonable ; and that the judgment 
which he pafies, isof infinite importancetoallhis creatures. 

J. 13. And now, to apply all this to your own cafe, 
(n) Pfal. xciv. 9, 10. \&\ 



Ch> ■ i. From perfonal obligations to him $ $$ 

let me ferioufly afk you, is it a decent and reafonable thing* 
that this great and gloiious benefactor {hould be neglect- 
ed by his rational creatures ? by thofe, that are capable of 
attaining to fome knowledge of him, and prefenting to 
him fome homage ? Is it decent and reafonable, that he 
fhould be forgotten and neglected by you ? Are you alone, 
of all the works of his hands, forgotten and neglected by 
him P O finner, thoUghtlefs as you are, you cannot dare 
to fay that, or even to think it. You need not go back to 
the helpleis days of your infancy and childhood, to con- 
vince you of the contrary. You need not, in order to 
this to recollect: the remarkable deliverances, which, per- 
haps, were wrought out for you many years ago. The 
repofe of the lad night, the refreshment and comfort you. 
have received this day ; yea, the mercies you are receiv- 
ing this very moment, bear witnefs to him ; and yet yoti 
regard him not. Ungrateful creature that you are ! 
Could you have treated any human benefactor thus ? 
Could you have borne to neglect a kind parent, or any 
generous friend, that had but for a few months acted the 
part of a parent to you ? To have taken no notice of him, 
while in hi^ prefenee ; to have returned him no thanks, to 
have had no contrivances to make fome little acknowledg- 
ment for all his goodnefs ? Human nature, bacfas it is, is 
riot fallen fo low. Nay,- the brutal nature is not fo low as 
this. Surely every domeftic animal around you mud 
fhame fuch ingratitude. If you do but for a few days 
take a little kind notice of a dog, and feed him with the 
refufe of your table, he will wait upon you, and love to 
be near you ; he will be eager to follow you from place to 
place, and when, after a little abfence, you return home, 
will try, by a thoufand fond tranfported motions, to tell 
you how mUch he rejoices to fee you again. Nay, brutes, 
far lefs fagacious and apprehenfive, have fome fenfe of 
our kindnefs, and exprefs it after their way : As the 
bleffed God condefcends to obferve, in this very view in 
which I mention it, the dulf Ox knows his owner, and the 
ftupid Afs his majler's crib : (o) What lamentable degen- 
eracy, therefore, is it, that you do not know that you, who 
have been numbered among God's profeffing^o/Z?, do not, 
and will not conftder your mwnberlefs; obligations to him ? 
(o) Ifai. i. 3. e §. 14. 



£4 and from the view ofafuturejlafel Ch, £ 

£. 14. Surely, if you have any ingenuity of tempery 
you mull be afhamed and grieved in the review : But if 
you have not, give me leave farther to expoftulate with 
you on this head, by fetting it in fomething of a different 
light. Can you think yourfelves fafe, while you are acting 
a part like this ? Do you not in your confcience believe, 
there \^11 be a future judgment ? Do you not believe, 
there is an invifible and eternal world ? As profeffed 
christians, we all believe it ; for it is no controverted 
point, but difplayed in fcripture with fo clear an evidence, 
that, fubtile and ingenious as men are in error, they have 
not yet found out a way to evade it. And, believing 
this, do you not fee, that while you are thus wandering 
from God, dejlrudtion and mifery are in your ways ? (p) 
Will this indolence, and negligence of temper, be any ie* 
curity to you.? Will it guard you from death ? Will it 
excufe you from judgment ? You might much more rea- 
fonably expect, that fhutting your eyes would be a de- 
fence againft the rage of a devouring lion ; or that look- 
ing another way mould fecure your body from being pierc- 
ed by a bullet or a fword. When God fpeaks of the ex- 
travagant folly of fome thoughtlefs creatures, who would 
hearken to no admonition now, he adds, in a very awful 
manner : In the latter day they Jhall confider it perfectly, (q) 
And is not this applicable to you F Muft you not, fooner 
or later, be brought to think of thefe things, whether 
you will or no ? And, in the mean time, do you not cer- 
tainly know, that timely and ferious reflection upon them, 
is through divine grace, the only way to prevent your 
ruin ? 

§. 15. Yes, fmner, I need not multiply words on afub- 
ject like this. Your confcience is already inwardly con- 
vinced, tho' your pride may ba unwilling to own it. And 
to prove it, let me afk you one queftion more : Would 
you, upon any terms and confi derations whatever, come 
to a refolution, abfolutely to difmifs all farther thought 
of religion, and all care about it, from this day and hour, 
and to abide by the confequences of that neglect ? I be- 
lieve, hardly any man living would be bold enough to de- 
termine; 
(p) Rom. iii. 16. (q) Jen xxiii. 20. 



Ch. 2, The Meditation of a fane f, J $ 

termlne upon this. I believe, moft of my readers would 
be ready to tremble at the thought of it. 

§, 1 6. But if it be neceffary to take thefe things into 
confi deration at all, it is necefTary to do it quickly ; for 
life itfelf is not fo very long, nor fo certain, that a wife 
man mould rifque much upon its continuance. And I 
hope to convince you, when I have another hearing, that 
it is neceffary to do it immediately ; and that next to the 
madnefs of refolving, you will not think of religion at all, is 
that of faying, you will think of it hereafter. In the mean 
time, paufe on the hints which have been already given, 
-and they will prepare you to receive what is to be added 
on that head. 

The Meditation of a (inner who was once thoughilefs, but 
begins to be awakened. 

" AWAKE, O my forgetful foul, awake from thefe 
wandring dreams. Turn thee from this chace of vanity, 
and for a little while be perfuaded, by all thefe confidera- 
tions, to look forward, and to look upward, at lead for a 
few msments. Sufficient are the hours, and days, given 
to the labours and amufements of life. Grudge not a 
mort allotment of minutes, to view thyfelf, and thine own 
more immediate concerns ; to reflect, who, and what thou 
art ; how it comes to pafs, that thou art here, and what 
thou muft quickly be ! 

" It is, indeed, as thou haft now feen it reprefented. 
O my foul ! Thou art the creature of God ; formed and 
furnifhed by him, and lodged in a body, which he pro- 
vided, and which he fupports ; a body, in which he in- 
tended thee only a tranfitory abode. O, think how foon 
this tabernacle muft be di/fohed, (r) and thou muft return to 
God. (s) And fhall he, the one infinite, eternal, ever 
bleffed, and ever glorious being, fhall he be leojl of all re- 
garded by thee ? Wilt thou live and die with this charact- 
tr, faying, by every action of every day, unto God, depart 
from me, for I deftre not the knowledge of thy ways ? (t) The 
morning, the day, the evening, the night, every period 
of time, has its excufes for this neglect. But, O my foul, 

v/haS 

(r) 2 Cor. v, i. (s) Ecclef, xii, 7. (t) Jobxxi, 14. 



jjtf who legins to be awakened CJi. *£• 

what will thefe excufes appear, when examined by his 
penetrating eye ! They may delude me ; but they cannot 
impofe upon him. 

" O thou injured, neglected, provoked benefactor ! 
When I think, but for a moment or two, of all thy great- 
nefs, and of all thy goodnefs, I am aftonifhed at this in- 
fenfibility, which hath prevailed in mine heart, and even 
ftill prevails. / blufh, and am confounded, to lift up my fees 
before thee, (u) On the moft tranfient review, I fee, that 
I have played the fool, that I have erred exceedingly, (x) And 
yet this ftupicl heart of mine would make its having neg- 
lected thee fo long, a reafon for going on to neglect thee. 
I own, it might juftly be expected, that, with regard to 
thee, every one of thy rational creatures fhould be all du- 
ty and love : That each heart iljould be full of a fenfe of 
thy prefence ; and that a care to pleafe thee ihall fwailow 
up every other care. Yet thou hajl not been in all my 
thoughts ; (y) and religion the end and glory of my na- 
ture, has been fo ftrangely over looked, that I have hard- 
ly ever ferioufly afked my own heart, what it is.— I know, 
if matters reft here, Ipertfh. And yet, I feel in my per- 
verfe nature, a fecret indifpofition to purfue thefe 
thoughts ; a pronenefc, if not entirely to difmifs them, 
yet to lay them afide for the psefent. My mind is per- 
plexed and divided ; but, I am Jure, thou, who madeft 
me, knoweft what is belt for me. I therefore befeech 
thee, that thou wilt, for thy name'sfa&e had me and guide me. 
(z) Let me not delay, till it is forever too late. Pluck 
me as a brand out of the burning, (a) O break this fatal 
.enchantment, that holds down my affection to objects, 
which my judgment comparatively delpifes ? and let me, 
at length, come into fo happy a (late of mind, that I may 
not be afraid to think of thee, and of myfelf ; and may 
not be tempted to wifh, that thou hadft not made me, or 
that thou couldft forever forget me ; that it may not be 
my beft hope, to perifh like the brutes. 

" If what I (hall farther read here, be agreeable to 
truth and reafen j if it be calculated to promote my hap- 
pinefs, and is to be regarded as an intimation of thy will 

and 
. (u) Ezr. x. 6. (x) i Sam. xxvi. 21. (y) Pfal, x> 4, 
(z; Pfal. xxxi. 3. (ajAmosiv. 11^ 



Ch. 3. The meditation of a Jnner, &c. . jjj 

and pleafure to me ; O God, let me hear and obey ! Let 
the words of thy fervant, when pleading thy caufe, be like 
goads to pierce into my mind, and let me rather feel and 
fmart, than die ! Let them be as nails faflened in a fure 
place. !b) That, whatever myfteries as yet unknown, or 
whatever difficulties there be in religion, if it be neceflary, 
I may not finally neglect it ; and that if it be expedient to 
attend immediately to it, I may no longer delay that at- 
tendance ! And, O let thy grace teach me the leflbn, I 
am fo flow to learn ; and conquer that ftrong oppofition, 
which I feel in my heart, againfl the very thought of it ! 
Hear thefe broken cries, for the fake of thy Son, who has 
taught and faved many. a creature as untraceable as I, and 
can out of flones raife up children to Abraham I (c) Amen." 
(b) Eccl. xii. 11. (cj Mat. iii. 9. 



v£$3&!S=sssl£&&i 



CHAP. III. 

THE AWAKENED SINNER URGED TO IMMEDIATE CONSIDER* 
ATION, AND CAUTIONED AGAINST DELAY. 

Sinners when awakened, inclinable to difmifs convidions for the 
prefent. §. /. An immediate regard to reVgion urged. $. 2. 
( I .) From the excellency and pie o fure of the thing if If. \ . 3. 
(z.) From the uncertainty of that future time on which finners 
prefume, compared with the fad conftquences of being cut off in 
fin. $.4. (3) From the immutability of God's prefent de- 
mands-. §. 5. C ' ^) From the tendency which delay has, to 
make a compliance with thefe demands more difficult than it is 
at prefent. §. 6. (5) From the danger of God 's withdrawing 
his fpirit, compared with the dreadful cafe cf a firmer given 
up by it : §. 7. Which probably is now the cafe of many. §. 8. 
Since, therefore, on the whole, whatever the event be, delays 
mufl prove matter of lamentation. §. 9. The chapter concludes 
with an exhortation againfl yielding to them : §. 10. And a 
prayer againfl temptation of that kind* 

4, I. I HOPE 



$£ The Jinncr cautioned again/} delay, Ch. $1 

§.<.*. 1 HOPE my lad addrefs fo far awakened 
the convictions of my reader, as to bring him to this pur- 
pofe, " that fome time or other he would attend to reli- 
gious considerations." But give me leave to a{k earneft- 
ly and punctually, " when that fhall be ?" Go thy way 
for this time, and at a more convenient feafon I will fend for 
thee, was the language and the ruin of unhappy Felix, (.a) 
when he trembled under the reafonings and expostulations 
of the apoftle. The tempter prefumed not to urge, that he 
ihould give up all thoughts of repentance and reforma- 
tion ; but only that, confidering the prefent hurry of his 
affairs, (as no doubt they were many,) he Ihould defer it 
to a longer day. The artifice fucceeded, and Felix was 
undone. 

§.2. Willjoz/ reader, difmifs me thus ? For your own 
fake, and out of tender companion to your periihing im- 
mortal foul, I would not willingly take up with fuch a 
difmiffion and excufe. No, not tho* you fhouldj6.v a time ; 
tho' you fnould determine on the next year, or month, or 
nveek, or day. I would turn upon you with all the eager- 
nefs and tendernefs of friendly importunity, and \ntreat 
•you to bring the matter to an iffue even now: For, if you 
fay, " I will think on thefe things to-morrow, I ihall have 
little hope ; and fhall conclude, that all that I have hitherto 
urged, and all that you have read, hath been offered and 
viewed in vain. 

§. 3. When I invite you to the care and practice of 
religion, it may feem ftrange, that it ihould be neceiTary 
for me, affectionately to plead the cafe with you, in order 
to your immediate regard and compliance. What I am 
inviting you to, is fo noble and excellent in itfelf, fo well 
worthy the dignity of our rational nature, fofuitable to it, 
fo, manly, and fo wife, that one would imagine, you fhould 
take fire, as it were, at the firlt. hearing of it j yea, that 
fo delightful a view ihould prefently poflefs your whole 
foul with a kind of indignation againft yourfelf, that you 
purfued itnofooner. "May I lift up mine eyes, and my 
foul, to God ? May I devote myfelf to him ? May I 
even now commence a friendfhip with him ? A friendship 

which 
(a) Acts xxiv. 25. 



Ch. 3. Immediate regard to religion urged* 5$ 

which (hall lad forever, the fecurity, the delight, the 
glory of this immortal nature of mine ?" And fhall I 
draw back, and fay, " neverthelefs let me not commence 
this friendship too foon : Let me live at leaft a few weeks, 
or few days longer, without God in the world ?" Surely it 
would be much more reafonable to turn inward, and fay, 
'? O my foul, on what vile hufks haft thou been feeding, 
while thine heavenly father has been forfaken, and in- 
jured ? Shall I deftre to multiply the days of my pover- 
ty, my fcandal, and my mifery ?" On this principle, 
furely, an immediate return to God, fhould in all reafon 
be chofen ; rather than top/ay the fool any longer, and to 
go on a little more to difpleafe God, and thereby to Starve 
ana to wound your own foul ; even though your continu- 
ance in life were ever fo certain, and your capacity to 
return to God and your duty ever fo entirely in your own 
power, now, and in every future moment, through fcores 
of years yet to come. 

§. 4. But who, or what are you, that you fhould delay 
your account for years, or for months to come ? What is 
your life P Is it not even as a vapour, that appear eth for a little 
time, and then vaniJJjeth away ? (b; And what is your fe- 
curity, or what is your peculiar warrant, that you fhould 
thus depend upon the certainty of its continuance ? and 
that fo abfolutely, as to venture, as it were, to paAvn your 
foul upon it ? "Why, you will, perhaps, fay, " I am young, 
and in all my bloom and vigour : I fee hundreds about 
me, who are more than double my age ; and not a few of 
them, who feem to think it tcofcon to attend to religion 
yet." — Ycu view the living, and you talk thus. But I 
befeech you, think of the dead. Return in your thoughts, 
to tbofe graves, in which you have left feme of your 
young companions, and your friends. You faw them a 
while ago gay and active ; warm with life and hopes, and 
fchemes. And feme of them would have thought a friend 
ftrangely importunate, that fhould have interrupted them 
in their bufmefs, and their pleafures, with a folemn lecture 
of death and eternity. 1 Yet they were then on the very 
borders of both. You have Since fcen their corpfes, or at 
leaft their ceffins ; and probably carried about with you 

the 
I (b; Jam. iv. i*' 



63 The dreadful cafe of dying unprepared. Ch. $•• 

the badges of mourning, which you received at their fu- 
nerals. Thofe once vigorous, and, perhaps, beautiful bod- 
ies of theirs, now lie mouldering in the duft ; as fenfe- 
lefs, and helplefs, as the moft decrepid pieces of human 
nature, which fourfcore years ever bro't down to it. And, 
what is infinitely more to be regarded, their fouls, wheth- 
er prepared for this great change, or thoughtlefs of it, 
have made their appearance before God and are at 
this moment fixed either in heaven, or in hell. Now let 
me feriouily afk you, would it be miraculous, or would 
it be ftrange, if fuch an event fhould befal you ? How 
are you fure, that fome fatal difeafe mall not this day be- 
gin to work in your veins ! How are you fure, that you 
ihall ever be capable of reading or thinking any more if 
you do not attend to what you now read, and purfue the 
tli ought which is now offering itfelf to your mind ? This 
fudden alteration may at leaft poffibly happen ; and if it 
does, it will be to you a terrible one indeed. To be thus 
furprized into the prefence of a forgotten God ; to be 
torn away, at once, from a world, to which your whole heart 
and foul have been rivetted ; a world, which has engrofTed 
all your thoughts and cares, all your defires and purfuits : 
and be fixed in a ftate, which you could never be fo far 
perfuaded to think of, as to fpend fo much as one hour in 
ferious preparation for it : How mud you even fhudder 
at the apprehenlion of it, and with what horror mud it 
fill you ? It feems matter of wonder, that, in fuch cir- 
cumftances, you are not almofl diftra&ed with the tho'ts 
of the uncertainty of life, and are not even ready to die 
for fear of death. To trifle with God any longer, after 
fo folemn an admonition as this, would be a circumftance 
©f additional provocation, which, after all the reft, might 
be fatal. Nor is there any thing you can expect in fuch a 
cafe, but that he fhould cut you off immediately, and teach 
other thoughtlefs creatures, by your ruin, what a hazard- 
ous experiment they make, when they act as you are act- 
ing. 

§. 5. And will you, after all, run this defperate rifque ? 

For what imaginable purpofe can you do it ? Do you 

think, the bufinefs of religion will become left necffary, or 

more eafy by your delay I You. kfiow, $at ft will not. 

~ ; - - You 



Ch. 3. Delay will male the work more cliffitult. 6i 

You know, that whatever the bleffed God demands now, 
he will alfo demand twenty or thirty years hence, if you 
fnould live to fee the time. God hath fitted the method, 
in which he will pardon and accept fmners, in his gofpel. 
And will he ever alter that method ? Or if he will not, 
can men alter it ? You like not to think of repenting, 
and humbling yourfelf before God, to receive righteouf- 
nefs and life from his free grace in Chrift ; and you a- 
bove all diflike the thought, of returning to God in the 
ways of holy obedience. But will he ever difpenfe with 
any of thefe, and publifli a new gofpel, with promifes of 
life and falvation to impenitent, unbelieving /inner s, if they 
will but call themfelves Chriftians, and mbmit to a few 
external rites ;. how long, do you think, you might wait for 
fuch a change in the conftitution of things ? you know, 
death will come upon you ; and you cannot but know, , in 
your own confcience, that a general diilblution will come 
upon the world, long before God can thus deny himfelf, 
and contradict all his perfections, and all his declara- 
tions. 

§. 6. Or if his demands continue the fame, as they 
affuredly will, do you think, any thing, which is now 
difagreeable to you in them, will be lefs difagreeable here- 
after than it is at prefent ? Shall you love fin lefs, when 
" it is become more habitual to you, and when confcience is 
yet more enfeebled and debauched ? If you are running 
with the_ footmen and fainting, fhall you be able to contend 
with the horfemen ? (c) Surely you cannot imagine it. 
You would not fay, in any diftemper which threatened 
your life, " I will flay till I grow a little worfe, and then 
I will apply to a phyfician : I will let my difeafe get a 
little more rooting in my vitals, and then I will try what 
can be done to remove it." No, it is only where the life 
of the foul is concerned, that men think thus widely : 
The life and health of the body appear too precious, to be 
thus trifled away. 

§. 7. If after fuch defperate experiments you are ever 

recovered, it muft be by an operation of divine grace on 

your foul, yet more powerful and more wonderful, in 

proportion to the increafmg inveteracy of your fpiritual 

F maladies. 

(c) Jer. *ii. 5. 



€i Tou may be left to hardnefs of heart* Ch. 3. 

maladies. And can you expect, that the holyfphit fhould 
be more ready to afjfi you, in confequence of your having fo 
ihamefully trifled with him, and affronted him ? He is 
now, in fome meafure, moving on your heart : If you 
feel any fecret relentings in it upon what you read, it is a 
fign you are not yet utterly forfaken : But who can tell, 
whether tliefe are not the laft touches he will ever give, to 
a heart fo long hardened againft him ? Who can tell, but 
God may this day fzuear in his wrath, that yen jl: all not en- 
ter into his rejl ? (d) I have been telling yOu, that you 
may immediately die. You own- it pcffible, you may. 
And can you think of any thing more terrible \ Yes fin- 
ner, I will tell you of one thing more dreadful, than imme- 
diate death and immediate damnation. The bleffed God may 
fay, " as for that wretched creature, -who has fo long 
trifled with me, and provoked me, let him ftilllive : Let 
him live in the midft ofprofperity and plenty : Let him 
live under the pureft, and molt powerful ordinances of th« 
gofpel too ; that he may abufe them, to aggravate his 
condemnation, and die under fevenf old guilt, andafeven- 
foldcurfe. I will not give him the grace to think of his 
ways for one ferious moment more ; but he lhall go en 
from bad to worfe, fdling up the meafure of his iniquities, till 
death and destruction feize him in an unexpected hour, 
and wrath come upon him to the iitte-rmofi. ,> (e) 

§. 8. You think this an uncommon cafe; but, I fear, 
it is much otherwife. I fear, there are few congregations, 
where the word of God has been faithfully preached, and 
where it has been long defpifed, efpecially by thofe whom 
it had once awakened, in which the eye of God does not 
fee a number offuch wretched fouls; though it is impem- 
ble for us to pronounce upon the cafe, who they are. 

§. 9. I pretend not to fay, how he will deal with you, 
O reader ; whether he will immediately cut you off, cr 
feal you up under final hardnefs and impenitency of heart ; 
or whether his grace may, at length, awaken you to ccn- 
fider your ways, and to return to him, even when your 
heart is grown yet more obdurate than it is at prefent : For 
to his almighty grace nothing is hard, not even to tranf- 
fcrm a rock of marble into a man and a'faint. But this I 

will 
(d) Heb. iii. i3, (e) 1 TheC ii. i&. 



Ch. 3. A Prayer againjt being tempted to delay. 63 

will confidently fay, that if you delay any longer, the 
time will come, when you will bitterly repent of that de- 
lay ; and either lament it before God in the anguifh of 
your heart here, or curfe your own folly and madnefs in 
hell ; yea, when you will wifh, that, dreadful as hell is, 
you had rather fallen into it fooner, than have lived in the 
midft of fo many abufed mercies to render the degree of 
your punifhment more infupportable, and your ienfe of it 
more exquifitely tormenting. 

§. 10. I do therefore earneftly exhort you, in the 
name of our Lord Jeius Chrift, and by the worth, and, 
if I may fo fpeak, by the blood of your immortal and per- 
illing foul, that you delay not a day, or an hour longer. 
Far from giving Jleep to your eyes, orflumber toyour eye-lids, (f) 
in the continued neglect of this important concern, take 
with you even now words, and turn unto the Lord ; (g) and 
before you quit the place where you now are, fall upon 
your knees in his facred prefence and pour out your heart 
infuqh language, or at lead to fome fuch purpofe, as 
this. 

A Prayer for one, who is tempted to. delay applying to rel- 
ligion, though under fome convitlion of its importance. 

(< O THOU righteous and holy fovereign of heaven 
and earth ! Thou God, in whofe hand my breath is, and 
whof; are all my ways I (h) I confefs, I have been far from 
glorifying thee, or conducting myfelf according to the in- 
timations, or the declarations of thy will. I have there- 
fore reafon to adore thy forbearance and goodnefs, that 
thou haft not long fince flopped my breath, and cut 
me off from the land of the living. I adore thy patience, 
that I have not, months and years ago, been an inhabit- 
ant of hell ; where ten thoufand delaying fmners are now 
lamenting their folly, and will be lamenting it forever. 
But, O God, how pofTible is it, that this trifling heart of 
mine may, at length, betray me into the fame ruin ! and 
then, alas, into a ruin aggravated by ail this patience ".nd 
forbearance of thine ! lam convinced, that, fooner or 
later, religion mufi be my ferious care, or I am undone. 

And 

(f) Prov, ri. 4. (g) Hof. xiv. 2. (li) Dan.T. 2j, 



64 <dt Prayer for one under convictions. Ch. 3. 

And yet, my foolifh heart draws back from the yoke : 
Yet I ftretch myfelf upon the bed of floth, and cry out 
for a Utile morejleep, a Utile moreflumber, a little more folding 
of the hands iojleep. (i) Thus does my corrupt heart plead 
for its own indulgence, againft the convictions of my bet- 
ter judgment. What mall I fay ? O Lord, fave me from 
myfelf! Save me from the artifices and deceitfulnefs of 
fin : Save me from the treachery of this perverfe and de- 
generate nature of mine, and fix upon my mind what I 
have now been reading \ 

" O Lord, I am not now inftructed in truths, which 
were before quite unknown. Often have I been warned 
of the uncertainty of life, and of the greater uncertainty 
of the day of falvation : And I have formed feme light 
purpofes, and have begun to take a few irrefolute fteps in 
my way towards a return unto thee. But, alas, I have 
been only, as it \vere,f uttering about religion, and have nev- 
er fixed upon it. All my refolutions have been fcattered, 
like fmoke, or difperfed, like a cloudy vapour before the 
wind. O that thou wouldft new bring thefe things home 
to my heart, with a more powerful conviction than it hath 
ever yet felt ! O that thou wouldft purfue me with them, 
even when I flee from them ; if I mould ever grow mad 
enough to endeavour to efcape them any more ! May thy 
fpirit addrefs me, in the language of effectual terror ; 
and add all the moft powerful methods, which thou know- 
eft to be neceifary, to awaken me from this lethargy, 
which muft otherwife be mortal ! May the found of thefe 
things be in mine ears, when I go out, and when I come in, 
-when I lie down, and when I rife up ! (k) And if the re- 
pofe of the night, and the bufinefs of the day, be for a 
while interrupted by the impreffion, be it fo, O God ! if 
I may but thereby carry on my bufinefs with thee to better 
purpofe, and at. length fecure a repofe in thee, inftead of 
ail that terror which I now find, when I think upon God 
and am troubled. ( 1 ) 

" O Lord, my fleflo trembleth for fear of thee, and I am a- 
fir; id of thy judgments, (m) I am afraid, left even now, that 
I have begun to think of religion, thou fhouldft cut me 

off, 
(i) Prov. vi. 10. (k) Deut. vi. 7. (1) Pfal. lxxvii. $x 
(m) Pfal. cxix. 120. 



Ch. 4. Thefinner charged with guilt, &c. 6$ 

off, in this critical and important moment, before my 
thoughts grow to any ripenefs ; and blaft in eternal death, 
the firft buddings and openings of it in my mind. But 
Ofpare me, I earnestly intreat thee ; for thy mercies fake 
fpare me a little longer ! It may be, through thy grace, 
I mall return. It may be, if thcu continued thy patience 
towards me a while longer, there may be fome better fruit 
produced by this cumber er of 'the ground, (n) And may the 
remembrance of that long forbearance, which thou haft al- 
ready exercifed towards me, prevent my continuing to 
trifle with thee, and with my own foul ! From this day, 
O Lord, from this hour, from this moment, may I be 
able to date more lafling impreffions of religion, than have 
ever yet been made upon my heart, by all that I have 
ever read, or all that I have heard ! Amen.''* 



jfS&g*:— =£& 



CHAP. IV. 

THE SINNER ARRAIGNED AND CONVICTED. 

Conviction of guilt neceffary. §. 1. A charge of rebellion againfl 
God advanced. §. 2. Where it is Jhewn, (l.) That all men 
are born under God's law. §. 3. (2) That no man hath per- 
fectly kept it. §. 4. An appeal to the reader's conference en 
this head, that he hath not. §. 5. ($) That to have broken 
it, is an evil inexprefjibly great : §. 6. Illuflrated by a more 
Particular view of the aggravations of this guilt, arifing, (\.) 
From knowledge. §. 7. (2) From divine favours received* 
§. 8. f$J From convictions of confeience overborne. §. 9. 
(^) From the Jlrivings of God' s fpirit refifled. §. 10. (5 ) 
From vows and refolutions broken. §. 11. The charge fum- 
med up, and left upon thefinner' s confeience. §. 12. The tin- 
ner's confejjion under a general conviction of guilt. 

§. 1. IxS I am attempting to lead you to true re- 
ligion, and not merely to fome fuperficiai form of it, I 
(n) Luke xiii. 7, 8, f am 



66 Many injlanees of tranfgrejfwiu Ch. 4* 

am fenfible, I can do it no otherwife, than in the way of 
deep humilation. And therefore, fuppofmg you are per- 
fuaded, through the divine bl effing on what you have be- 
fore read, to take it into confideration, I would now en- 
deavour, in the firft place, with all the ferioufnefs I can, 
to make you heartily fenfible of your guilt before God. 
For I well know, thatunlefs you are convinced of this, 
and affected with the conviction, all the proviiions of gof- 
pel grace will be flighted^ and your foul infallibly deftroy- 
ed, in the midft of the nobleft means appointed for its 
recovery. I ,am fully perfuaded, that thoufands live and 
die in a Courfe of fin, without feeling upon their hearts 
any fenfe that they are finners ; though they cannot, for. 
ihame, but own it in words. And therefore, let me deal 
faithfully with you, though I may feem to deal roughly ; 
for complaifance is not to give law to addrelfes, in which 
the life of your foul is concerned. 

§. 2. Permit me therefore, O fmner, to confider my- 
felf at this time, as an advocate for God ; as one employ- 
ed in his name, to plead againft thee, and to charge thee 
with nothing lefs, than being a rebel and a traitor, againft 
the fovereign majefty of heaven and earth. However 
thoumayeit be dignified or diftinguifhed among men ; if 
the nobleft blood ran in thy veins ; if thy feat were among 
princes, and thine arm were the terror of the mighty, in the 
land of the living ; (a) it would be neceffary, thou fiiouldft 
be told, and told plainly, thou hajl broken the law of the 
king of kings, and by the breach of it art become obnoxious 
to his righteous condemnation. 

§. 3. Your confeience tells you, that you were born 
the natural fubjects to God ; born under the indifpenfible 
obligations of his law. For it is moft apparent, that the 
conititution cf our rational nature, which makes you capa- 
ble of receiving law from God, binds you to obey it. And 
. it is equally evident and certain, that you have not exact- 
ly obeyed this law ; nay, that you have violated it in ma- 
ny aggravated inftances. 

§. 4. Will you dare to deny this ? Will you dare to 
aiTert your innocence ? Remember, it muft be a complete 
innocence : Yes, and a perfect righteoufnefs too ; or it 

eaja 
(a) Ezek, xxxii. 27. 



Ch. 4. The great ev$ of offending God. 6f 

can ftand you in no ftead, further than to prove, that, 
though a condemned ilnner, you are not quite fo crimin- 
al as fbme others, and will not have quite fo hot a place, 
in hell, as they. And when this is confidered, will you 
plead not guilty to the charge ? Search the records of your 
own confcience ; for God fearches them : Afk it feriouf- 
ly, " have you never in your lives finned againft God V* 
Solomon declared, that in his day, there was not a jufl man 
upon earth, that did good, and finned not: (b) And the A- 
poftlePaul, that all had finned, and come fhort of the glory of 
God; (c) that both jews and gentiles, (which you know, 
comprehended the whole human race,) were all under fin. 
(d) And can you pretend any imaginable reafon, to be- 
lieve the world is grown fo much better fince their days, 
that any fhould now plead their own cafe as an exception I 
Or will you, however, prefume to arife, in the face of the 
omnifcient majefty of heaven, and fay, I am the man ? 

§. 5. Suppofmg, as before, you have been free from 
thofe grofs acls of immorality, which are fo pernicious to 
fociety, that they have generally been punilhable by hu- 
man laws ; can you pretend, that you have not, in frnall- 
er inflances, violated the rules of piety, of temperance, 
and of charity ? Is there any one perfon, who has inti- 
r mately known you, that would not be able to teftify, you 
had faid, or done fomething amifs ? Or if others could 
not convict you, .would not your own heart do it ? Does 
it not prove you guilty of pride, o£ paffion, of fenfaality ; 
of an exceflive fondnefs for the world, and its enjoy- 
ments ; of mourning, or at leafl of fecretly repining, a- 
gainft God, under the ftrokes of his afflicliive providence ; 
of mifpending a great deal of your time ; of abufmg the 
gifts of God's bounty, to vain, if not (infome inflances^ 
to pernicious purpofe ; of mocking him, when you have 
pretended to engage in his worfhip, drawing near to him 
with your mouth and your lips, while your heart has beenj^r 
from him ? (e) Does not confcience condemn you of fome 
one breach of the law at leafl ? And by one breach of it 
you are in a fenfe, a fcriptural fenfe, become guilty of all ; 
(f) and are as incapable of being juftified before God by 

any 
(b) Ecclef. vii. 20. (c) Rom. iii. 23. (d) Rom. iii. 9. 

(e) Ifai. xxix. 13. (f) Jam. ii. xo. 



68 The heinous aggravations of fin, Ch. 4, 

any obedience of your own, as if you had committed tea 
thoufand offences. But, in reality, there are ten thous- 
and, and more, chargeable to your account. When you 
come to reflect on all your fins of negligence, as well as on 
thofe of commiffion ; on all the inftances, in which you 
have failed to do good, when it <was in the power of your hand 
to do it ; (g) on all the inftances, in which acts of devotion 
have been omitted, efpecially in fecret ; and on all thole 
cafes, in which you have ihewn a ftupid difregard to the 
honour of Go4, and to the temporal and eternal happi- 
nefs of your fellow-creatures : When all thefe, I fay, are 
reviewed, the number will fwell beyond all poflibility of 
account, and force you to cry out, mine iniquities are more 
than the hairs of my head, (h) They w T ill appear in fuch a 
light before you that your own heart will charge you with 
•ountlefs multitudes ; and how much more then that God* 
who is greater than your heart, and hnoweth all things ! (i) 

§ . 6. And fay, fmner, i s it a little thing, that you have prefum- 
ed tofetlightby the authority of the God of heaven, & to vio- 
late his law, if it had been by mere careleifnefs & inattention? 
How much more heinous, therefore, is the guilt, when in fa 
many inftances you have done it knowingly, & wilfully ? Give 
me leave ferioufly to alk you, and let me intreat you to afk 
your own foul, againjl whom hafl thou magnified thyf elf? Againfl 
whom hafl thou exalted thy voice, (k) or lifted up thy rebel- 
lious hand ? On whofe law, O fmner, haft thou prefumed 
to trample . ? and whofe friendfhip, and whofe enmity haft 
thou thereby dared to affront ? Is it a man like thyfelf, 
that thou haft infulted ? Is it only a temporal monarch ? 
Only one, who can kill thy body, and then hath no more that he 
can do? (1) Nay, fmner, thou wouldft not have dared 
to treat a temporal prince, as thou haft treated the king 
eternal, immortal, and iwvlfible. (m) No price could hav e 
hired thee, to deal by the majefty of an earthly fovereign, 
as thou haft dealt by that God, before whom thecherubim and 
feraphim are continually bowing. Not one oppofmg or 
complaining, difputing or murmuring word is heard a- 
mong all the celeftial legions, when the intimations of his 
will are Dubliihed to them. And win? art thou, O wretch- 
ed 
(g) Prov. iii. 27. (h) Pfal. xl. 12. (i) 1 John i4i. 20. 

(kj 2 Kings x«. 22, (1) Luke xii. 4. (m) 1 Tim. i. 17. 



Ch. 4. as committed againft light and mefty. 6$ 

ed man ; who art thou, that thou fhouldft oppofe him ? 
That thou ihouldft oppofe and provoker God of infinite pow- 
er and terror, who needs but exert one fmgie aft of his 
fovereign will, and thou art in a moment ftripped of eve- 
ry pofTeffion ; cut off from every hope : deftroyed and 
rooted up from exiftence, if that were his pleafure ; or, 
what is inconceivably worfe, configned over to the fever- 
eft and molt lafting agonies ? Yet, this is the God, whom 
thou haft offended ; whom thou haft affronted to his face, 
prefuming to violate his exprefs laws in his very prefence ; 
this is the God, before whom thou ftandeft as a convict- 
ed criminal ; convicted, not of one or two particular of- 
fences, but of thoufands and ten thoufands ; of a courfe 
and feries of rebellions and provocations, in which thou 
haft perfifted, more or lefs, ever fince thou waft born ; 
and the particulars of which have been attended, with al- 
moft every conceivable circumftance of aggravation. Re- 
flect on particulars ; and deny the charge, if you can. 

§. 7. If knowledge be an aggravation of guilt , thy guilt 
O fmner, is greatly aggravated ! For thou waft born in 
Emmanuel's land, and God hath written to thee the great 
things of his law, yet thou hajl accounted them as a Jlrange 
thing, (n) Thou haft known to do good, and hajl not dona 
it; (o) and therefore to thee the omiflion of it has been 
fin indeed. Hajl thou not known P Hajl thou not heard ? 
(p) Waft thou not early taught the will of God, in thine 
infant years ? Haft thou not fince received repeated lef- 
fons, by which it has beeii inculcated again and again, in 
public, and in private, by preaching and reading the 
word of God \ Nay, hath not thy duty been, in fome in- 
stances, fo plain, that even without any inftruction at all, 
thine own reafon might eafily have inferred it ? And 
haft thou not alio been warned of the confequences of difo- 
bedience ? Haft thou not known the righteous judgment of 
God, that they who commit fuch things are worthy of death ? 
£q] Yet thou haft, perhaps, not only done the fame, but hajl 
taken pleafure in thofe that do them ; haft chofen them for thy 
mod intimate friends and companions ; fo as thereby t9 

Jlrengthen, 

(n) Hof. viii. 12. (o) Jam. iv. 17, (p) Ifai. xl. 2%* 

(q) Rom. i. 32. 



*jo The/inner acJs againft his corfcienee, Ch. 4> 

Jlrengthen, by the force of example and converfe, the hands of 
each other in your iniquities. 

§. 8. Nay more, if divine love and mercy be any ag- 
gravation of the fins committed againft it, thy crimes, O 
iinner, are heinoufly aggravated. Muft thou not ac- 
knowledge it, fooltjh creature, and unwife P Haft thou 
not been nourifhed and brought up by him as his child, and yet 
hajl rebelled againjl him P (r) Did not God take you out of 
the ivomb P (s) Did he not watch over you in your infant 
days, and guard you from a multitude of dangers, which 
the moft careful parent or nurfe could not have obferved, 
or warded off ? Has he not given you your rational pow- 
ers ? and is it not by him you have been favoured with 
every opportunity of improving them ? Has he not every 
day fupplied your wants, with an unwearied liberality ; 
and added, with refpect to many, who will read this, the 
delicacies of life, to its necefiary fupports ? Has he not 
heard your cry ivhen trouble came upon you ; (t) and frequent- 
ly appeared for your deliverance, when in the diitreftes of 
nature you have called upon him for help ? Hashenotref- 
cued you from ruin, when it feemed juft ready to fwallow 
you up ; and healed your difeafes, when it feemed to all 
about you, that the refidue of your days tvas cut off" in the 
midjl P (u) Or if it have not been fo, is not this long con- 
tinued and uninterrupted health, which you have enjoyed 
for fo many years, to be acknowledged as an equivalent 
obligation ? Look round upon all your pofTeflions, and 
fay, what one thing have you in the world, which his 
goodnefs did not give you, and which it hath not thus far 
preferved to you ? And to all this, the kind notices of 
his will which he hath fent you ; the tender expoftula- 
tions which he hath ufed with you, to bring .you to a wifer 
and abettertemper ; and the difcoveries and gracious in- 
vitations of his gofpel, which you have heard, and which 
you have defpifed : And then fay, whether your rebel- 
lion has not been aggravated by the vileft ingratitude, and 
whether that aggravation can be accounted fmall ? 

§. 9. Again, if it be any aggravation of Jin to be com-' 
mitted againjl con/deuce, thy crimes, O fmner have been £0 

aggravated, 
(r) Ifai. i. 2. (s) Pfal. xxii. 9. (t) Job xxvii. 9* 

(u) Pfal. cii. 24. Ifai. xxxviii. jo, 



Ch. 4. ttndrejlfls thejlrivings of the fpirit, ft 

aggravated. Confultthe records of it; and then difpute 
the fadt if you can. There is a fpirit in man, and the infpira* 
lion of the almighty giveth him under/landing; (w) and that 
underftanding will act, and a fecret conviction of being 
accountable to its maker and preferver, is infeparable 
from the actings of it. It is eafy to object to human re- 
monftrances, and to give things falfe colourings before 
men : But the heart often condemns, while the tongue 
excufes. Have you not often found it fo ? Has not con- 
science remonftrated againft your paft conduct, and have 
not thefe remonftrances been very painful too ? I have 
been aflured by a gentleman of undoubted credit, that 
when he was in the purfuit of all the gayeft fenfualities of 
life, and was reckoned one of the happieft of mankind, 
he has feen a dog come into the room where he was among 
his merry companions, and has groaned inwardly, and 
faid, " O that I had been that dog /" And haft thou, fm- 
ner, felt nothing like this ? Has thy confcience been foflupi- 
Jied, fo feared with a hot iron, (x) that ke has never cried 
out of any of the violences which have been done it ? Has 
it neverwarned thee of the fatal confequences of what 
thou haft done in oppofition to it ? Thefe warnings are, 
in effect, the 'voice of God ; they are the admonitions which 
he gave thee by his vicegerent in thy breaft. And when 
his fentence for thy evil works is executed upon thee in ever- 
lafting death, thou fhalt hear that voice fpeaking to thee 
again, in a louder tone, and a feverer accent than before : 
And thou mall be tormented with its upbraidings through 
eternity, becaufe thou wouldft not, in time, hearken to its 
admonitions. 

§. 10. Let me add further, if it be any aggravation, that 
Tin has been committed after God has been moving by his fpirit 
on the mind, furely your fin has been attended with that 
aggravation too. Under the Mofaic difpenfation, dark and 
imperfect as it was, the fpirit flrcve with the Jews ; elfe 
Stephen could not have charged it upon them, that, through 
all their generations, they had always rejifled. (y) New 
furely we may much more reafonably apprehend, that he 
drives with finners under the gofpel, and have you never 
experienced any thing of this kind, even when there has 

been 
Jclzxxii. 8. fxj 1 Tim. iv. 2. (j) Acts yu. 51. 



*$ Thejinner a3s agamfi his confcience y Sec, Ch. 4. 

been no external circumftance to awaken you, nor any 
pious teacher near you ? Have you never perceived fome 
fecret impulfe upon your mind, leading you to think of 
religion, urging you to an immediate consideration of it, 
fweetly inviting you to make trial of it, and warning you 
ihat you would lament this ftupid neglecl: ? O fmner, why 
were not thefe happy motions attended to ? Why did you 
not, as it were, fpread out all the fails of your foul, to 
catch that heavenly, that favourable breeze ? But you 
have carelefsly neglected it : You have overborne thefe 
kind influences : How reafonably then might the fentencs 
have gone forth in righteous difpleafure. My fpiriijhall m 
morejirive P fzj And indeed, who can fay, that it is not 
already gone forth P If you feel no fecret agitation of mind, 
no remorfe, no awakening, while you read men a remon- 
ftrance as this, there will be room, great room to fuf- 
pecT: it. 

§. 11. There is indeed one aggravation more, which may 
not attend your guilt ; I mean, that of being committed 
againjl folemn covenant-engagements : A circumftance, which 
has lain heavy on the confeiences of many, who, perhaps, 
in the main feries of their lives, have ferved God with 
great integrity. But let me call you. to think, to what is 
this owing P Is it not, that you have never peribnally made 
any folemn profeftion of devoting yourfelf to God at all ? 
have never done any thing, which has appeared to your 
own apprehenfion an aftion by which you made a cove- 
nant with him ; though you have heard fo much of his 
covenant, though you have been fo folemnly and fo ten- 
derly invited into it ? And in this view, how monftrous 
muft this circumftance appear, which at firft was mention- 
ed as fome alleviation of guilt ? Yet I muft add, that you 
are not, perhaps, altogether fo free from guilt on this 
head, as you may at firft imagine. I will not infift on the 
covenant, which your parents made in your name, when 
they devoted you to God in baptifm ; though it is really a 
weighty matter, and by calling yourfelf a chrijlian you 
have profeffed to own and avow what they then did. 
But I would remind you, of what may have been more 
perfonal and exprefs. Has your heart been, even from 

your 
(z) Gen. vi. 3. 



€h. 4. He breaks his vows, andfo is inexcufahh. 73. 

your youth, hardened to fo uncommon a degree, that 
you have never cried to God in any feafon of danger and 
difficulty ? And did you never mingle vows with thofe 
cries , ? Did you never promife, that if God would hear 
and help you in that hour of extremity, you would for- 
fake your fins, and ferve him as long as you lived ? He 
heard and helped you, or you had not been reading 
thefe lines ; and, by fuch deliverances, did, as it were, 
bind down your vows upon you ; and therefore your guilt 
in the violation of them remains before him, though you 
are ftupid enough to forget them. Nothing is forgotten, 
nothing is overlooked by him ; and the day will come 
when the record thai! be laid before you too. 

§. 12. And now, O firmer, think ferioufly with thy- 
felf what defence thou wilt make to all this ! Prepare 
thine apology ; call thy witnefies ; make thine appeal, 
from him whom thou haft thus offended, to fome fuperi- 
or judge, if fuch there be. Alas, thofe apologies are fo 
weak and vain, that one of thy fellow-worms may eafily 
detect and confound them ; as I will endeavour prefently 
to mew thee. But thy foreboding confcience already 
knows the iifue. Thou art convicled ; convicted of the 
moll aggravated offences. Thou haft not humbled thine 
heart, but lifted up thyfdf againjl the Lord of heaven ; [a]] 
and thy fentence Jhall come forth from his prefence. [b~] Thou 
haft violated his known law ; thou haft defpifed and abufed 
his numberlefs mercies ; thou haft affronted confcience his 
vicegerent in thy foul ; thou haft refijled and grieved the 
fpirit ; thou haft trifled with him in all thy pretended fub- 
miffion ; and in one word, and that his own, thou hajh 
done evil things as thou couldfl. [c] Thoufands are, no doubt, 
already in hell, whofe guilt never equalled thine ; and it 
is aftoniihing, that God has fpared thee to read this rep- 
resentation of the cafe, or to make any paufe upon it. 
O, wafte not fo precious a moment, but enter, as atten- 
tively, and as humbly as thou canft, into thofe reflections 
( which fait a cafe fo lamentable, and fo terrible as thine ! 

G The 

[a] Dan, v. 22, 23, [b] Pfal. xvii. 2. [c] Jer. iii. 5- 



74 The confijfon of a convinced fnner. Cli. 4* 

The Confession of a J Inner, convinced in general of his guilt. 

" O God ! thou injured fovereign, thou all penetrat- 
ing and almighty judge ! What ihall I fay to this charge ! 
Shall I pretend, I am wronged by it : and (land on the 
defence in thy prefence I I dare not do it ; for thou know* 
e$ my foolifhnefs, and none of my fins are hid from thee. [d3' 
My confcience tells me, that a denial of my crimes would 
only mcreafe them, and add new fuel to the fire of thy 
deferved wrath. If Ij u Jlify myfelf, mine own mouth will 

1 in me ? f 1 fay, I am perfect, it tv ill a 1J prove me per - 
verfe. [el For innumet - \ r jUs have compajfed ms about : 
Mine iniquities upon me, fo that I am not able to 

look up : They are, as I have been told in thy name, more 
than the hairs of my head; and therefore my heart faileth me. 
[f] I am more guilty, than it is poffible for another to 
declare or reprefent. My heart fpeaks more, than any 
other accufer. And th©u, Lord, art much greater than 
my heart, and hnoivejl all things, [g] 

" What has my life been^ but a ccurfe of rebellion a- 
gainft thee ? It is not this, or that particular action a- 
lone, I have to lament. Nothing has been right, in its 

:iples, and views, and ends. My i *u?/jolefouihks beea 
difordered. All my thoughts, my affections, my defires, 
my purfuits, have been wretchedly alienated from thee. 
I have acted, as if I had hated thee, who art infinitely the 
lovelieft of all beings ; as if I had been contriving, how 
I might tempt thee to the uttermoft, and weary cut thy 
patience, marvellous as it is. My actions have been evil ; 

. rrds yet <more evil than they ; and O bleiTed God, 
my heart hew much mere corrupt than either ! What an 
tnexhaxiffced fountain ofjtn has there been in it ? A fountain 
of original corruption, which mingled its bitter itreams with 
the days of early childhood ; and which, alas, flows on 
even to this day, beyond what actions, or words could ex- 
prefs. I fee this to have been the cafe, with regard to 
what I can particularly furvey. But O, how many 
months, and years, have I forgotten ? Concerning which 
I only know this in the general, that they are much like 

thofe 
[d] Pfal; lxix. 5. [e] Job ix. so. [f] Pfal. xl. 12. 
Lg] 1 John iii, 29. 



Ch. 5. The fmner Jl ripped of his pleas. . 7 5 

thofe I can remember ; except it be, that I have been 
growing tvorfe and <worfe, and provoking thy patience 
more and more, though every new exerciie of it was more 
and more wonderful. - 

" And how am I aftonlmed, that thy forbearance is 
flill continued ! It is, becaufe thou art God, and not man. 
[h] ~Had I, a finful worm, been thus injured, I could 
not have endured it. Had I been a prince, I had long 
fmce done juftice on any rebel, whofe crimes had borne 
but a diftant refemblance to mine ; had I been a parent, I 
had long fmce caft off the ungrateful child, who had made 
me fuch a return, as I have all my life long been making 
to thee, O thou fat her of my fpirlt ! The flame of natural 
affection would have been extinguifhed ; and his fight, 
and his very name, would have become hateful to me. 
Why then, Lord, am I not cajl out from thy prefence P [i] 
Why am I notfealed up under an irreverfible lentence of 
deitruction ! That I live, I owe to thftie indulgence. 
• But O S if there be yet any way of deliverance, if there be 
yet any hope for fo guilty a creature, may it be opened 
upon me by thy gofpel, and thy grace ! And" if any far- 
ther alarm, humiliation, and terror, be necefiiuy to my 
fecurity and falvation, may I meet them? and bear them 
all ! 'Wound mine heart, O Lord, fo that thou wilt but 
{afterwards^///,* wad break it in pieces, if thou wilt but 
at length condefcend to bind it up /'? 



■ftill *5*M£S *mm *S§tf*upsggesa 

C H A P. V. 

THE SINNER STRIPPED OF HIS VAIN PLEAS. 

The vanity of thofe pleas, which finners may fecretly confute -In ;fo 
arent, thai they nyill be ajhamed at lafl to mention them be- 
fore Go^. $..1.2. Such as ( 1.) That they defended from 
piou s parents . § . 3 . (z.) That they had attended to ihefpecu- 
■ lathe part of religion. §. 4. (3. J Thai they had entertain* 
, ed 

[h] Hof. x. 9, [i] Jer. Hi. 3. 



7 6 The plea of 'a defcent from pious parents, &c. Ch. 5. 

ed found notions . $.5. (^.) That they had exprffed a %eal- 
6us regard to religion, and attended the outward forms of 
m>orJhip with thofe they apprehended the purefl Churches. §. 6, 
7. (5.) That they had been free from grofs immoralities. §.S, 
[6.] Thai they did not think the confequence ofneglecling re- 
ligion would have been fo fatal. §,9. [7.] That they could 
not do other wife than they did. §. 10. Conclufion, J. II. 
with the meditation cf a convinced tinner, giving up his vain 
pleas before God. 

§. i. IVI.Y laft difcourfe left the firmer in a very a- 
larming, and a very pitiable circumftance ; a criminal 
convicted at the bar of God, difarmed of all pretences to 
perfect innocence and fmlefs obedience, and confequent- 
ly obnoxious to the fentence of a holy law, which can 
make no allowance for any tranfgreflion, no, not for the 
leaft. ; but pronounces death, and a curfe, againft every 
act of difobedience : How much more then againft 
thofe numberlefs -and aggravated acts of rebellion, of 
which, O fmner, thy conscience hath condemned thee be- 
fore God ? I would hope, fome of my readers will inge- 
nuoufly fall under the conviction, and not think of making 
any apology-: For fure I am, that humbly to plead guil- 
ty at the divine bar, is the moil decent, and, all things 
considered, the moft prudent thing that can be done in 
fuch an unhappy circumftance. Yet I know the treache- 
ry, and the felf-flattery, of a fmful and corrupted heart. 
I know what excufes it makes, and how, when it is driven 
from one refuge, it flies to another, to Jfortifyitfelf againft 
full conviction, and to perfuade, not merely another, but 
kfelf, " that if it has been in fomeinftances to blame, it is 
not quite fo criminal as was reprefented : That there are 
a i leaft confiderations that plead in its favour, which, if 
they cannot juftify, will in iome degree excufe." A 
fecret referve of this kind, fometimes, perhaps, fcarce form- 
ed into a diftinct reflection, breaks the force of conviction, 
and often prevents that deep humiliation j^fore God, 
which is the happieft token of approaching deliverance, I 
will therefore examine into fome of thefe particulars ;. and 
ieithatpurpofe would feriounVafk thee, O fmner, what 

thou 



Ch. 5. It is vain, to plead a -zeal for forms. 77 

thou haft to offer in arrejl of judgment ? What .plea thou 
canft urge for thyfelf why the fentence of God mould not go 
forth againjl thee, and why thou ftiouldft not fall into the 
hands of his juftice ? 

§. 2. But this I muft premife, that the queftion is not, 
how thou wouldft anfwer to me, a weak fmful worm like 
thyfelf, who am fnortly to ftand with thee at the fame bar : 
Sj^he Lord grant, that I may find mercy of the Lord in that 
day!) [a] But, what thou wilt repiy to thy judge ? 
What couldft thou plead, if thou waft now actually before 
his tribunal ; where to multiply vain words, and to frame 
idle apologies, would be but to increafe thy guilt and 
provocation ? Surely the very thought of his prefence 
muft fitperfede a thoufandof thofe trifling excufes, which 
now fometimes impofe on a generation that are pure in their 
oiv n eyes, though they are not nvafhecl from their JUthinefs ; 
[b] or, while they are confcious of their own impurities 
trufi in words that cannot profit, [c~\ and lean upon broken 
reeds, [d] 

§. 3. You will not, to be fure, in fuch a circumftance, 
plead "that you are defended from pious parents." That 
was indeed your priviledge ; and woe be to you that you 
have abufed it, and forf alien the God of your fathers, [e] 
JJhmael was immediately defcended from Abraham the 
friend of God; and Efau was the fpn of Ifaac, who was 
born according to the promife : Yet you knpw, they were 
both cut off from the bieuing, to which they apprehended 
they had a kind of hereditary claim. You may remem- 
ber, that our Lord does not only fpeak of one, who could 
. call Abraham father, who was tormented inflames ; [f ] but 
exprefsly declares, that many of the children of the kingdom 
Jball befhut out of it ; and when others come from the moil 
diitant parts to fit doivn in it, mall be diftinguifhed from 
■ their companions in mifery, only by louder accents of la- 
mentation, and more furious gnajhing cf the teeth, [g] 

§. 4. Nor will you then prefume to plead, " that you 
had exercifed your thoughts about the fpeculative parts of 
religion ;" for to what end can this ferve, but to increafe 

g your 

[a] 2 Tim. i. 18. [b] Prov. xxx. 12. [c] Jer. vii. 8. 
[4] Ifai. xxxvi. 6. [e] 2 Chr.on, vii- 22. [f] Luke xvi. 24. 
[g]1vlatt. viii. 11, 12, . 



7 $ or f q urge the 'work you have done. Ch. 5* 

your condemnation ? Since you have broken God's law, 
fmce you have contradicted the moft obvious and appar- 
ent obligations of religion, to have enquired into it, and 
argued upon it, is a circumftance that proves your guilt 
more audacious. What? did you think' religion was 
merely an exercife of men's wit, and the amufement of 
their curiofity ? If you argued about it, on the principles 
of common fenfe, you muft have judged and proved it to 
be a practical thing ; and if it was fo, why did not you 
practife accordingly ? You knew the particular branches 
of it : why then did you not attend to every one of them ? 
To have pleaded an unavoidable ignorance, would have 
been the happieft plea that could have remained for you : 
Nay, an actual, though faulty ignorance, would have 
been fome little allay of your guilt. But if, by your own 
confeffion, you have known your majler's will, and have net 
done it, you bear witnefs againft yourfelf, that you deferve 
to be beaten with manyjiripes. \\C\ 

§. 5. Nor yet again, will it fuffice to fay, " that you 
have had right notions, both of the doctrines, and the 
precepts of religion." Your advantage for practifmg it 
was therefore the greater : But underflanding, and act- 
ing right, can never go for the fame thing, in the judg- 
ment of God, or of man. In believing there is one God, you 
have done well ; but the devils alfo believe, and tremble, [ij 
In acknowledging Chriji to be the/on of God, and the holy one, 
you have done well too ; but you know, the unclean fph its 
made this very orthodox confeffion, [k] and yet they are 
referved in everlajling chains, under darknefs unto the judgment 
ef the great day. [1] And will you place any fecret confi- 
dence in that which might be pleaded by the infernal fpir- 
its, as well as by you ? 

§. 6. But perhaps you may think of pleading " that 
you have actually done fomething in religion." Having 
judged what faith was the foundeit, and what worfliip the 
pureft, you entered yourfelves into thofe focieties where 
fuch articles of faith was profeffed, and fuch forms of 
worfnip were practlfed ; and among thefe you have fig- 
nalized yourfelves, by the exactness of your attendance, by 

the 
[h] Luke xii. 47. [ij Jam. ii. 19, [k] Luke iv. 34?4i' 
[1] Jud. *tr\ C, 



Ch. 5. A freedom from grofs immoralities, 7$ 

the zeal with which you have efpoufed their caufe, and 
by the earneftnefs with which you have contended for fuch 
principles and practices." — O fmner, I much fear, that 
this zeal of thine, about the circumftantials of religion, 
will fwell thine account, rather than be allowed in abate- 
ment of it. He, that fearches thine heart, knows, from 
whence it arofe, and how far it extended. Perhaps he 

• fees, that it was all hypocrify ; an artful veil, under 
which thou waft carrying on thy mean defigns for this 
world ; while the facred names of God and religion were 
profaned and proitituted in the bafefl manner ; and if 
fo thou art curled with a diilinguiflied curfe, for fo daring 
an infult on the divine omnifcience, as well as juflice. 
Or perhaps the earneftnefs with which you have been con- 
tending for the faith and worf hip, which was once delivered to 
the faints, [m] or which it is pofiible you may raihly have 
concluded to be that, might be mere pride and bitternefs 
of fpirit : And all the zeal you have expreifed might 
pofiibly arife from a confidence in your own judgment, 
from an impatience of contradiction, or from a fecret ma- 
lignity of fpirit-which delighted itfelf in condemning, and 
even in worrying others ; yea, which (if I may be allow- 
ed the expreffion,) fiercely preyed upon religion, as the 
tyger upon the lamb, to turn it into a nature mofc contra- 

■ ry to its own. And fhall this fcreen you before the great 
tribunal ? Shall it not rather awaken the difpleafure, it 
is pleaded to avert ? 

§. 7. But fay, that this zeal for notions and forms has 
been ever fo well intended, and, fo far as it has gone, 
ever fo well conducted too ; what will that avail towards 
vindicating thee in fo many inftances of negligence and 
difobedience as are recorded againil thee in the book of 
God's remembrance ? Were the revealed doctrines of the 
gofpel to beearneftly maintained, (as indeed they ought) 
and was the great practical purpofe for which they were 
revealed to be forgot ? Was the very mint, and annife, and 
cummin to be tithed, and were the weightier matters of the law 
to be omitted ; [n] even that love to God, which is itsf/fi 
and great command ? \o~\ O how wilt thou be able to vin- 
dicate even the juflefl fentence thou hail pafTed on others for 

their 

•;[m] Jud. ver, 3. [n] Mat. xxiii, 23. [o~| Mat, xxii. 3.$* 



So or want of thought will be no plea. Ch. $, 

their infidelity, or for their difobedience, without being 
condemned out of thine oivn mouth ! [p^ 

§. 8. Will you then plead " your fair moral character, 
your works of righteoufnefs and of mercy ?" Had your 
obedience to the law of God been complete, the plea might 
be allowed, as important and valid. But I have . fup- 
pofed and proved above, that confcience tefbifies to 
the contrary ; and you will not now dare to contradict it. 
I add farther, hadthefe works of yours, which ycu now 
urge proceeded from a fmcere love to God, and a genu- 
ine faith in the Lord Jems Chrift, you would not have 
thought of pleading them, any otherwife than as an 
evidence of your intereft in the gofpel- covenant, and in 
the bleffmgs of it, procured by the righteoufnefs and blood 
of the redeemer : And that faith, had it been fmcere, 
would have been attended with fuch deep humility, and 
w T ith fuch foiemn apprehenfions of the divine holinefs and 
glory, that infiead of pleading any works of your own be- 
fore God, you would rather have implored his pardon, 
for the mixture of fulfill imperfection attending the very 
bed of them. Now, as you are a Granger to this hum- 
bling and falsifying principle, (which here, in this ad- 
drefs, I fuppofe my reader to be,) it is abfolutely necef- 
fary you fhould be plainly and faithfully told, that neither 
fobriety, nor honerty, nor humanity will juftify you be- 
fore the tribunal of God, when he lays judgment to the line, 
and righteoufnefs to the plummet, (q) and examines all your 
actions, and all your thoughts, with the ftricteft feverity. 
You have not been a drunkard, an adulterer, or a robber. 
So far it is well. You (tand before a righteous God, who 
v/ili do you ample juftice ; and therefore will not con- 
demn you for drunkennefs, adultery, or robbery. But 
you have forgotten him your parent, and your benefactor ; 
you have cafl off fear and refrained prayer before him ; (r) 
you have defpifed the blood of his fon, and ail the immor- 
tal bleffmgs that he purchafed with it. For this there- 
fore you are judged, and condemned. And as for any 
thing that has looked like virtue and humanity in your 
temper and conduct, the exercife of it has in a great mea- 
fure been its own reward, if there weie anything more 

than 
(p) Luke xix. 22. (q) Ifai. xxviii. 17. (r) Job x.v. 4. 



Ch. 5. ^freedom from grofs immoralities, 81c. %l 

■■ than form and artifice in it ; and the various bounties of 
divine providence to you, amidft all your numberlefs 
provocations, have been a thoufand times more than an 
equivalent for fuch defective and imperfect virtues as thefe. 
You remain therefore chargeable with the guilt of a thouf- 
and offences, for which you have no excufe, though there 
are fome other inftances "in which you did not grofsly of- 
fend. And thofe good works, in which you have been fo 
ready to truft, will no more vindicate you in his awful 
prefence, than a man's kindnefs to his poor neighbours 
would be allowed as a plea, in arreft of judgment, when 
he flood convicted of high treafon againft his prince. 

§. 9. But you will, perhaps, be ready to fay, " you 
did not expect all this : You did not think the confe- 
rences of neglecting religion would have been fo fatal." 
And why did you not think it ? Why did you not exam- 
ine more attentively, and more impartially ? Why did 
youfufferthe pride and folly of your vain heart, to take^. 
up with fuch fuperficial appearances, and truft the light 
fuggeftions of your own prejudiced mind againft the ex- 
press declaration of the word of God? Had you reflected 
on his character, as the fupreme governor of the world, 
you would have feen the neceffity of fuch a day of retribu- 
tion, as we are now referring to. Had you regarded the 
icripture, the divine authority of which you profeffedto 
believe, every page might have taught you to expect it. 
" You did hot think of religion." And of w^hat were you 
thinking, when you forgot, or neglected it ? Had you 
too much employment of another kind ? Of what kind, I 
befeech you ? What end, could you propofe by any thing 
elfe, of equal moment ? Nay, with all your engagements, 
confcience will tell you, that there have been feafons, 
when, for want of thought, time and life have been a bur- 
den to you : Yet you guarded againft thought, as an 
enemy, and caft up (as it were) an intrenchment of in- 
confideration around you on every fide, as if it had been 
to defend you from the moft dangerous invafion. God 
knew you were thoughtlefs ; and. therefore he fent you line 
upon line} and precept upon precept, (s) in fuch plain lan- 
guage, that it needed no genius or fludy to underftand 

it, 
(s) Ifai. xxviii. iq« 



82 In vain to fay, you could not do other nv'fe. Ch* 5. 

it. He tried you too with afflictions, as well as with mer- 
cies, to awaken you out of ) r our fatal lethargy : and yet, 
when awakened, you would lie down again upon the bed 
oflloth. And now, pleafmg as your dreams might be, 
you mujl lie donvn in farrow. ( t) Reflection has at laft over- 
taken you, and muft be heard as a tormentor, fince it 
might not be heard as a friend. 

§. 10. But fome may perhaps imagine, that one im- 
portant apology is yet unheard, and that there may be 
room to fay, " you were, by the neceflity of your nature, 
impelled to thsie things which are now charged upon you 
as crimes ; whereas it was not in your power to have a- 
voided them, in the circumftances in which you are plac- 
ed." Ifthiswilldo any thing 1 , it indeed profnifes to do 
much ; £0 much, that it wili amount to nothing. If I 
were difpofed to anfwer you upon the folly and madnefs 
of your own principles, I might fay, that the fame con- 
fideration, which proves it was neceifary for you to of 
fend, proves alfo that it is neceffary for God to punifh you ; 
and that indeed, he cannot but do it : And I might far- 
ther fay, with an excellent writer of our own age, * " that 
the fame principles, which deftroy the injuftice ofjins, def- 
troy the injuftice of punifiments too." But if you cannot ad- 
mit this, if you ihould ftill reply in fpight of principle, 
that it rauft be unjufl to punifh you for an action utterly 
and abfolutely unavoidable ; I really think, you would 
anfwer right. But in that anfwer you would contradict 
your own fcheme, (as I obferved above ;) and I leave your 
confcience to judge what fort of a fcheme that mufl be, 
which would make all hinds of punijhtnent unjajl : For the 
argument will on the whole be the fame, whether with re- 
gard to human punifrment or divine. It is a fcheme full of 
confufion and horror. You would not, I am fure, take 
• ic from a iervant, who had robbed you, and then fired 
yourhoufe : You would never inwardly believe, that he 
could not have helped it, or think, that he had fairly ex- 
cufed himfelf by fuch a plea. And I am perfuaded, yon 
would be fo far from prefuming to offer it to God at the 
great day, that you would not venture to turn it into a 

prayer 
(t)Ifai.l.'n. 
* Bp. e/Briftol's Analogy &c. pag. 135. O&avo Edit. 



©h. 5. The meditation of one giving up his pleas. &$ 

prayer even now. Imagine, that you faw a malefactor 
dying, with fuch words as thefe in his mouth : " O God, 
it is true, I did indeed rob and mtirther my fellow crea* 
tares ; but thou knoweft, that, as my clrcumftances were 
ordered, I cfould not do otherwife : My will was irrefifti- 
bly determined by the motives which thou didft fet be- 
fore me ; and I could as well have ftiaken the foundations 
of the earth, or darken the fun in the firmament as have 
renfted the impulfe which bore me on." I put it to your 
confeiencs, whether ycu would not look on fuch a fpeech 
as this with deteftation, as one enormity added to another. 
Yet if the excufe would have any weight in your mouth, 
it would have equal weight in his ; or would be equally 
applicable to any the moil fhocking occafion. But in- 
deed it is fo contrary to the plainer!: principles of common, 
reafon, that I can hardly perfuade myfelf, any one could 
fericufly and thoroughly believe it ; and mould imagine 
my time very ill employed here, if I were to fet myfelf to 
combat thofe pretences to argument, by which the wan- 
tonness of human wit has attempted to varnifh it over. 

§. 11. You fee then, on the whole, the vanity cfall 
your pleas, and how ealily the moil plaufible of them 
might be filenced, by a mortal man, like ycurfelf : How 
much more then by him, who fearches all hearts, and can, 
in a moment, flam in upon the confeience a moft power- 
ful and irrefiftible conviction ? What then can you do, 
while you ftand convicted in the prefence of God \ What 
fhould you do, but held your peace under an inward fenfe of 
your inexcufable guilt, andprepare ycurfelf to hear the fen- 
tence which his law pronounces againfl you ? You muftfeel 
the execution of it, if the gofpel dees not at length deliv- 
er you; andyou mud feel fomething of the terror of it, be- 
fore you can be excitedtofeektothatgofpel for deliverance. 

The Meditation of a Convinced Sinner, giving up his vain 
pleas before God. 

« DEPLORABLE condition, to which I am indeed 
reduced I I have finned ; and /what Jhall I fay unto thee, 
thou preferver of men ? (u) What Ihall I dare to fay ? Fool 
that I was, to amufe myfelf with fuch trifling excufes as 

(u) Job vii. 20. thefe, 



$4 The meditation of one giving up his pleas. Ch. 5. 

thefe, and to imagine, they could have any weight in thy 
tremendous prefence ; or that I mould be able fo much as 
to mention them there ! I cannot prefume to doit, I am 
filent and confounded. My hopes, alas, are iiain ? and 
my foul itfelf is ready to die too 5 fo far as an immortal 
foul can die: And I am almoft ready to fay, that it 
could die entirely ! I am indeed a criminal in the hand of 
juftice, quite difarmed, and ftripped of the weapons in 
which I trufted. Diffimuiation can only add provocation 
to provocation. I will therefore plainly and freely own 
it. I have acted, as if I thought God was altogether fitch a 
one as my/elf : But he hath laid, I will reprove thee ; I will 
set thy fins in order before thine eyes, [ x ) will marfhall them 
in battle array. And O, what a terrible kind of ho Pc do 
they appear ? and how do they furronnd me beyond all 
poftibility of efcape ! O my foul, they have, as it were, 
taken thee prifoner j and they are bearing thee away to 
the divine tribunal. 

" Thou muft' appear before it ! Thou mull fee the aw- 
ful eternal judge, who tries the very reins ; . y ) and who 
needs no other evidence, for he has himself heen witness (z) 
to all thy rebellion. Thou muft fee him, O my foul, fit- 
ting in judgment upon thee : and when he is firict to mark 
iniquity, (a; how wilt thou answer him for one of a thousand! 
(b) And if thou canft not anfwer him, in what language 
will he speak to thee ! Lord? as things at prefent ftand, I 
can expect no other language than that of condemnation. 
And what a condemnation is it ! Let me reflect upon it i 
Let me read my fentence, before I hear it finally and ir- 
reverfibly paffed ! I know, he has recorded it in his 
word ; and I know in the general, that the reprefentation 
is made with a gracious defign. I know, that he would 
have us alarmed, that we may not be deftroyed. Speak 
to me therefore, O God, while thou fpeakeft not for the 
laft time, and in circumftances when thou wilt hear me no 
more. - Speak in the language of effectual terror, fo that 
it be not to fpeak to me in final defpair. And let thy wordy 
how ever painful in its operation, be quick and powerful, and 
jharper than any two-edged sword, (cj Let me not vainly 

flatter 
(x) Pfal. 1. 21. (y) Jer. xvii 10. (z) Jer. xxix. 23. 

(a) pfal. cxxi;. 3. (b) Zo\ ix. 3. (cj Keb. iv. 12*. 



Ch. 6. The meditation of one giving up his pleas. $5 

flatter myfelf : Let me not be left a wretched prey to 
thofe who would prophecy frnooth things to me, (d) till I am 
fealed up under wrath, and feel thy juftice piercing my 
foul, and the poifon of thine arrows drinking up all my fpir- 
its. (e) 

" Before I enter upon the particular view, I know in the 
general, that it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the 
living God. (f ) O thou living God, in one fenfe I am al- 
ready fallen into thine hands. I am become obnoxious to thy 
difpleafure, juftly obnoxious to it ; and whatever thy fen- 
tence may be, when it comes forth from thy prefence, (g) I 
muft condemn myfelf, and juftify thee. Thou canfi not 
treat me with more feverity, than mine iniquities have de- 
ferved : And how bitter foever that cup of trembling may 
be, (h) which thou malt appoint for me, I give judgment 
againll myfelf, that I deferve to wring out the very dre^s 
*f it." W 



CHAP. VI. 

THE SINNER SENTENCE©. 

The /inner called upon to hear his fentence. §. I, 2. God's law 
does now in general pronounce a curfe : §. 3. It pronounces 
death, §.4.. and being turned into hell. 6. 5. The judgment 
day fhall come. §. 6. The folemnity of that grand prtcefs def- 
eribed, according to fcriptural reprefentations of it. §. 7, 8. 
with a particular illujlration of the fentence, depart accurf- 
ed, &c. §. 9. The execution will certainly and immediately 
follow. §. IO. The Jinner warned to prepare for enduring it. 
§. 11. The rejietlion of afinnerjlruck with the terror of this 
fentence. 

§. 1. JLXEAR, O finner, and I will fpeak (a) yet 
orlce more, as in the name of God, of God, thine almighty 

H ' judge ; 

(d) Ifai. xxx. io» (e) Job vi. 4. (f) Heb. x. 31. 

(g) Pfal. xyii. 2. (h) Ifai. li. 17. (i) Hal. lxxr. 8. 
(a) Jpb xlii. 4. 



36 The f inner mlledto hear his f entente. Ch. 6# 

fttt 

judge ; who, if thou doft attend to hisfervants, 'will e'er 
long fpeak unto thee in a more immediate manner, with 
an energy and terror which thou ihalt not be able to re- 
fift. 

§. 2. Thou haft been confided, as in his prefence. Thy 
pleas have been over-ruled ; or rather, they have been fi- 
lenced. It appears before God, it appears to thine own 
conference, that thou haft nothing more to offer in arrejl 
of judgment ; therefore hear thy faience, and fummon up, 
if thou canft, all the powers of thy foul to bear the exeeu- 
tionofit. // is indeed a very final I thing to be judged by 
man* s judgment ; but he that now judgeth thee is the Lord, (b) 
Hear therefore, and tremble, while I tell thee, how he 
will fpeak to thee ; or rather, while J fhew thee, from ex- 
prefs fcripture, how he doth even now fpeak ; and what 
is the authentic and recorded fentence of his word ; even of his 
cvordf who hath faid ; heaven and earth fhall pafs away ; but 
not one tittle of my word ' Jhall ever pafs away. \z~\ 

§. 3. The law of God fpeaks, not to thee alone, Oh 
imaer, nor to thee by any particular addrefs ; but, in a 
raoft univerfal language, it fpeaks to all tranfgrelibrs, and 
levels its terrors againft all offences ; great or fmall, 
avithout any exception* And this is its language : Curf- 
ed is every one, that conitnueth not in all things which are writ" 
ten in the book of the law to do than, [d] This is its voice to 
the whole world ; and this it fpeaks to thee. Its awful 
contents are thy peribnal concern, Oh reader ; and thy 
confeience knows it. Far from continuing in all things that 
are written therein to do them, thou canft not but be fenflble, 
that innumerable evils have compaffed thee about, [e] It is then 
manifeft, thou art the man, whom it condemns ; thou art 
even now cwfed with a curfe, as God emphatically fpeaks ; 
[f] with the curfe of the moft high God : Yea, all the curf- 
es which are written in the book of the law* are pointed a~ 
galnjlthte. [g] God may righteoufly execute any' of them 
upon thee in a moment ; and though thou at prefect feel- 
eit none of them, yet, if infinite mercy doth not prevent, 
it is but a little while, and they will come into thy bowels 

like 
[b] 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4. [c] Mat. v. 18. [d]. Gal. iii. 10. 
[ej Pfal. xl. 12, If] Mai. Ui. 9. [g] Dent, sxix, 2®, 



Ch. 6. The law pronounces a curfe, 87 

Me water, till thou art burft afunder with them, and {hall 
penetrate like oil into thy bones, [h] 

§. 4. Thus faith the Lord, the foul that finnethfi all die. \\~\ 
But thou hafl finned, and therefore thou art under a fen* 
lence of death. And, Oh unhappy creature, of what a 
death ! What will the end of theie things be ? That the 
agonies of difTolving nature mall feize thee ? That thy 
foul {hall be torn away from thy languishing body, and 
thou return to the dujl from whence thou wafl taken P [k] 
This is indeed one awful effecl of fin. In thefe affecting 
characters has God, through all nations and all ages of 
men, written the awful regifter and memorial of his holy 
abhorrence of it, and righteous difpleafure againftit. But 
alas, all this folemn pomp and horror of dying is but 
the opening of the dreadful fcene. It is but a rough kind 
of flroke, by which the fetters are knocked off, when the 
criminal is led out to torture and execution, 

§. 5. Thus faith the Lord, the wicked fhall be turned int» 
hell, even all the nations that forget God. \\~\ Though there 
be whole nations of them, their multitudes and their power 
fhall be no defence to them. They fhall be driven into hell 
together ; into that flaming prij Ion, whicn divine vengeance 
hath prepared ; into tophet which is ordained of old, even for 
royalfinners as well as for others, fo little cam any human 
diftinction protect ! He hath made it deep and large ; the pile 
thereof is fire and much wood ; the breath of the Lord like a 
flream of brimfl one fhall kindle it, [m] and the naming tor* 
rent mall flow in upon it fo faft, that it fhall be turned in- 
to a fea of liquid fire ; or, as the fcripture alfo exprefTes it, 
a lake burning with fire and brimflone for ever and ever, [n] 
This is the fecond death ; and the death, to which thou, Ok 
finner, by the word of God art doomed. 

§. 6. And fhall this fentence {land upon record in vain ? 
Shall the law fpeak it, and the gofpel fpeak it ? And fhall it 
never be pronounced more audibly ? and will God never 
require and execute the punifhment ? He will Oh, fmner, 
require it ; and he will execute it ; though he may feem- 
for a while to delay. For well doft thou know, that he 
hath appointed a day in which he will judge the whole world 

in 
[h] Pfal. cix. 18. [i] Ezek. xviii. 4, [k] Pfal. civ. 29. 
[lj Pfal. ix. 17. [mj Ifai. xxx. 33. [n] Rev. xxi» P 



S8 The judgment day w nil come, Ch. 6* 

in right eoufnefs, by that man whom he hath ordained, of which 
he has given us ajfurance in having r&ifed him from tie dead, foj 
And when God judgeth the world, O reader, whoever 
thou art, he will judge thee. And while I remind thee of 
it, I would alfo remember, that he will judge me. And 
knowing the terror of the Lord, [p] that I may deliver my 
*wn foul, [q] I would with all plainnefs and fmcerity 
labour to deliver thine. 

§. 7. I therefore repeat the folemn warning : Thou, 
O nnner, fiidXtfland before the judgment-feat of ChrjjL [r] 
Thou malt fee that pompous appearance ; the defcription 
of which is grown fo familiar to thee, that the repetition 
of it makes no impreffion on thy mind. But furely, rtu- 
pid as thou now art, the fhrill trumpet of the arch-angel 
ihall fhake thy very foul : And if nothing elfe can awak- 
en and alarm thee, the convulfions and flames of a dif- 
folving world mall do it. 

§. 8. Doftthou really think, that the intent of Chrift's 
final appearance is "only to recover his people from, the 
grave, and to raife them to glory and happinefs ? What- 
ever aifurance thou haft, that there mail be a refurreclion 
tf thejufl ; thou haft the fame, that there fhall alfo be 
refurreclion of the unjujl ; [s] that hejhallfeperate the rifmg 
dead one from another, as ajhepherd divideth his Jheep from 
the goats, [t] with equal certainty, and with infinitely 
greater eafe. Or can you imagine, that he will only 
make an example of fome flagrant and notorious fmners, 
when it is faid, that all the dead, both f, nail and great, mail 
(land before God ; {[uj and that even he, who knew not his 
mailer's will, and consequently feems of all others to have 
had the faireft excufe for his omiftion to obey it, yet even 
he for that very omiffion, lhall be beaten, though with fewer 
Jlripcs P [wj Or can you think, that a fentence to be de- 
livered with fo much pomp and majefty, a fentence, by 
which the righteous judgment of God is to be revealed, 
and to have its moft confpicuous and final triumph, will 
be inconnderable ; or the punifhment to which it mall 
confign the flnner, be flight or tolerable ? There would 

have 

o] A (51s xvii. 31. [p] 2 Cor. v. 11. [q] Ezek. xxxiii. 9. 

r] 2 Cor. v. 10. [s] A&s xxiv. 15. [t] Matt. xxv. 32* 

u] &ev, *£• 12 » [ w ] Lukexji. 4^s 



Oh. The great importance of that awful day. 89 

have been little reafon to apprehend that, even if we had 
been left barely to our own conjectures, what that fentence 
fhould be. But this is far from being the cafe : Our Lord 
Jefus Chrifl, in his infinite condefcenllon and companion,. 
has been pleafed to give us a copy of the fen'tence, and no 
doubt, a mqfi exaSt copy ; and the words which contain it, 
are worthy of being infcribed on every heart. The King, 
araidit. all the fplendor and dignity in which he fhall then 
appear, fhallfay unto thofe on his right-hand, come ye bleffed of 
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared, for you from the found- 
ation of the world ! [x] And where the word of a king is, 
there is power, indeed, [y] And thefe words have a pow- 
er, which may juitly animate the heart of the humble 
chriftian, under the moft over-whelming forrow, and may 
fill him with, joy unfpeah able and full of glory, [z]" To be 
pronounced the bleffed of the Lord! to be called to a kingdom I 
to the immediate and e.verlafting inheritance of it ! and of 
fuch a kingdom / fo well prepared, fo glorious, fo compleat, 
fo exquifitely fitted for the delight and entertainment of 
fuch creatures fo formed and fo renewed, that it fhall ap- 
pear worthy the eternal counfels of God to have contriv- 
ed it, worthy his eternal love to have prepared it, and to 
have delighted itfelf with the views of bellowing it upon 
his people : Behold, a bleffed hope indeed ! a lively glori- 
ous hope, to which we are begotten again by the refurreclion of 
Chr'ifl from the dead, [a] and formed by the fanctifying 
influence of the fpiritof God upon our minds. But it is 
a hope, from which them, O fmner, art at prefent ex- 
cluded ; and methinks, that might be grievous : To re- 
flet, " thefe gracious words fhall Chrifl fpeak to fome ; 
to multitudes, but not to me : On me there is no blefT- 
ednefs pronounced : For me there is no kingdom pre- 
pared." But is that all ? Alas, fmner, our Lord hath 
given thee a dreadful counterpart to this. He has told 
us, what he will fay to thee, if thou continuefl what thou 
art ; to thee, and all the nations of the impenitent and unbe- 
lieving worlds be they ever fo numerous, be the rank of 
particular criminals ever fo great. He fhall fay it to the 
kings of the earth, who have been rebels againfl him, to 
h the 

[x] Matt, xxv.34. [y] Ecclsf,. vijli. 4.- [z] 1 Pet, i. S. 

[a] 1 Pet. i. 3. 



3© end of the fctitence that will then be pajfed. Ch. 6. 

the great and rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty 
men, as well as to every bondman, and every freeman, of in- 
ferior rank ; [b] depart from me, accursed, into, 

EVERLASTING FIRE, PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS 

angels, [c] paufe upon thefe weighty words, that 
thou mayeft enter into fomething of the importance of 
them ! 

§. o. He will fay, depart; you mail be driven from 
his prefence, with difgrace and infamy : from hlm, the 
fource of life and bleflednefs, in a nearnefs to whom all 
the inhabitants of heaven continually rejoice: You fhall 
depart accursed ; you have broken God's law, and its 
curfe falls upon you ; and you are, and fhall be, under 
that curfe, that abiding curfe ; from that day forward 
you fhall be regarded by God, and all his creatures, as an 
accurfed and abominable thing ; as the moft deteftable, 
and the moft miferable part of the creation. You fhall 
go into fire: And O confider, into what fre! Is it 
merely into one fierce blaze, which fhall confume you in 
a moment, though with exquifite pain ? that were terri- 
ble. But O, fuch terrors are not to be named with thefe. 
Thine, finner, is everlasting fire: It is that, which 
©ur Lord hath in fuch awful terms defcribed, as prevail- 
ing there, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
quenched; and then fays it a fecond time, where the worm 
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched ; and again in wonder- 
ful compaiTion, a third time, where their worm dieth not, 
and the fire is not quenched, (d) Nor was it originally prepar- 
ed, or principally intendedybr you : It was prepared for 
the devil and his angels ; for thofe firft grand rebels, 
who were immediately upon their fall doomed to it : and 
ihice you have taken part with them in their apoftacy, 
you muft fink with them into that flaming ruin ; and fink 
£o much the deeper, as you have defpifed a faviour, who 
was never offered to them. Thefe muft be your com- 
panions, and your tormentors, with whom you muft 
dwell for ever. And is it I that fay this ? or fays not the 
law, and the gofpel, the fame ? Does not the Lord Jefus 
Chrift exprefsly/cy it, who is the faithful and true witnefs, (e) 

even 
(b) Rev. vi. 15. (c) Matt, xxv, 41. (d) Marki^.44, 4*>* 
48. fe) Rev. iii.14. 



• 



Ch. 6: Thefentence will be fur sly executed. 9 1 

even he, who himfelf is to pronounce the fentence ? 

§. 10. And when it is thus pronounced, and pro- 
nounced by him, fhall it not alfo be executed ? Wh© 
could imagine the contrary ? who could imagine, there 
mould be all this pompous declaration, to fill the mind 
only with vain terror ; and that this fentence mould van- 
ifli into fmoak ? You may eafily apprehend, that this 
would be a greater reproach to the divine adrnmiftration, 
than if fentence were never to be pa/Ted. And therefore, 
we might eafily have inferred- the execution of it, from 
the procefs of the preceding judgment. But left the 
treacherous heart of a finner mould deceive him with fo 
vain a hope the aliurance of that execution is immediately- 
added in very memorable terms, it mail be done, it fhall 
immediately be done. Then, on that very day, while th« 
found of it is yet in their ears, the wiched fhall go away into 
everhfling punifhment : (f) And thou, O reader, whoever 
thou art, being found in their number, Jhall go away with 
them ; fhalt be driven on, among all thefe wretched muL 
titudes, and plunged with them into eternal ruin. The 
wide gates of hell fhall be opened to receive thee ; 
they fhall be fhut againil thee for ever to inclofe thee ; 
and be faft barred, by the almighty hand of divine juftic«, 
to prevent all hope, all poffibility of efcape for ever. 

§. 11. And now, prepare thyfelf to meet the Lord thy 
God : (g) Summon up all the refolution of thy mind, &> 
endure fuch a fentence, fuch an execution as this : For 
he will not meet thee as a man ; (h) whofe heart may fome- 
times fail him, when about to exert a needful act of feveri- 
ty, fo that companion may prevail againfl reafonand juf- 
tice. No, he will meet thee as a God, whofe fchemes and 
purpofes are all immoveable as his throne, I therefore tes- 
tify to thee in his name, this day, that if God be true, he 
will thus fpeak ; and that if he be able, he will thus act. 
And, on fuppofition of thy continuance in thine impeni- 
tence and unbelief, thou art brought into this miferable 
cafe ; that if God be not either falfeor weak, thou art un- 
done, thou art eternally undone. 

Th 

(f : Matt. xxv. 46. (g) Amos iv. 12. 

(k) Ifai. xlvii. 3, 



$2 TIk reflection of ' afinner. Ch. 6. 

The reflection ofafinner,flruch with the terror of this /en- 
tente. 

" WRETCH that I am ? What fkall I do > or 

whither fliall I flee ? / am 'weighed in the balance, and am 
found iv anting, (i) This is indeed my doom ; the doom 
I am to expect from the mouth of Chrifl himfelf ; from 
the mouth of Him, that died for the redemption and 
faivation of men. Dreadful fentence ! and fo much the 
more dreadful, when confidered in that view ? To what 
fhall I look to fave me from it \ To whom fliall I call ? 
Shall I fay to the rocks, fall upon me, and to the hills, caver 
tne ? (ki Whatfliould I gain by that : Were I indeed 
overwhelmed with rocks and mountains, they could not 
conceal me from the notice of his eye ; and his hand 
could reach me with as much eafe there as any where 
eife. 

" Wretch indeed that I am ! O that I had never been 
born ! Oh that I had never known the dignity and pre- 
rogative of the rational nature ! Fatal prerogative in- 
deed, that renders me obnoxious to condemnation and 
wrath ! Oh that I had never been inftru&ed in the will 
of God at all, rather than that being thus inftructed, I 
fhould have difregarded and tranfgreffed it ! Would to 
God, I had been allied to the meanefl of the human 
race, to them that come nearefl to the ftate of the brutes, 
rather than that I ihould have had my let in cultivated 
life, amidft fo many of the improvements of reafon, and 
(dreadful reflection ! ) amidft fo many of the advantages 
of religion too ! and thus to have perverted all to my own 
deftrucnon ! — Oh that God would *tah away this rational 
foul ! But alas, it will live forever ; will live to feel the 
agonies of eternal death. Why have I feen the beauties and 
glories of a world like this, to exchange it for that flam- 
ing prifon ! Why have I tailed fo many of my Creator's 
bounties, to wring cutatlaft the dregs of his wrath ! Why 
have I known the delights of fecial life ajid friendly 
converfe, to exchange them for the horrid company of 
devils and damned fpii its in tophet ! O who can dwell 
with them in devouring flames I who can lie down with them 
ineverlafling-i everlajling, everlajl.ng Burnings I [\j But 
j^Dan. r. 27. (k) Luke jy&iii. 30. (l) Ifai, xxxjii 14. 



Ch. 7. . The rejUSion of 'a J, Inner. 93 

" But whom have I to blame in all this, but my/elf ? 
What have I to accufe, but my own itupid incorrigible 
folly ? On what is all this terrible ruin to be charged, 
but on this one fatal curfed caufe, that having broken 
God's law, I rejedted /6/x go/pel too ? 

" Yet fiay, Oh my foul, in the midil of all thefe dole- 
ful, foreboding complaints. Can I fay, that I have final- 
ly rejected the go/pel P Am I not to this day under the found 
of it ? The fertfence is not yet gone forth againji me, in fo 
-determinate a manner as to be utterly irreverfible.-— 
Thro' all this gloomy profpect one ray of hope breaks in, 
and itis pojjible I may yet be delivered. 

" Reviving thought ! Rejoice in it, Oh my foul, though 
it be with trembling ; and turn immediately to that God, 
who, though provoked by ten thoufand offences, has not 
yet fworn in his wrath, that thoufiljalt never be permitted t@ 
hold farther intercourfe with him, or to enter into his 
reft, (m) 

" I do then, Oh bleifed Lord, proitrate myfelf in the 
dull before thee. I own, I am a condemned and mifera- 
ble creature. But my language is that of the humble 
Publican, God be merciful unto me afinner ! (n) Some gen- 
eral and confufed apprehenfions I have of a way, by 
which I may pojjibly efcape. O God, whatever that way 
is, fliew it me I befeech thee ! Point it out fo plainly, that 
I may not be able to miftake it ! And Oh, reconcile my 
heart to it, be it ever fo humbling, be it ever fo painful ! 

" Surely, Lord, I have much to learn ; but be thou 
my teacher ! Stay for a little thine uplifted hand ; and 
in thine infinite companion delay thejlroke, till I enquire 
a little farther, how I may finally avoid it !" 
(m) Pfal. xcv. 11. (n) Luke xviii. 13. 



CHAP. VII. 

THI HELPLESS STATE OF THE SINNER UNDER CONDEMN 
NATION. 

Tfaefmncr urged te conGder hfzv he can hefaved from this im- 
pending 



54 The helplefs Jlate of the Jnner. Ch. 7 

pending ruin. §. 1,2. (\.) Not by any thing he c an offer. 
§ $..(2.) Nor by any thing he can endure. §. 4. ($.) 
Nor by any thing he can do in the courfe of future duty. §. 
5. f^.J Nor by any alliance tuith felloivjinners, on earthy 
er in hell. §. 6, 8. (5.) Nor by any inter pojition, or in- 
tercejfion of -angels or faints in his favour. §. 9. Hint of 
the only method, to be afterivards more largely explained. Ibid* 
The lamentation of a fanner in this miferable condition* 

§. 1. DINNER, thou haft heard the fentence of God, 
as \tjlands upon record in his facred and immutable word. 
And wilt thou lie down under it in everlafting defpair ? 
Wilt thou make no attempt to be delivered from it, when 
it fpeaks nothing lefs than eternal death to thy foul ? If 
a criminal, condemned by human laws, has but the leaft 
fhadow of hope, that he may poffibly efcape, he is all at- 
tention to it. If there be a friend, who he thinks can help 
him, with what ftrong importunity does he intreat the in- 
terpofition of that friend ? ArM even while he is before 
the Judge, how difficult is it often to force him away 
from the bar, while the cry of mercy, mercy, mercy, may bs 
heard, though it be never fo unfeafonable ? A mere pof 
fibility that it may make fome impreffion, makes him eager 
in it, and unwilling to be filenced and removed. 

§.2. Wilt thou not then, Oh fmner, 'ere yet execution 
is done, that execution which may perhaps be done this 
very day, wilt thou not caft about in thy thoughts, 
what meafures may be taken for deliverance ? Yet what 
meafures can be taken ? Confider attentively, for it is an 
affair of moment. Thy wifdom, thy power, thy eloquence, 
or thine intereft, can never be exerted on a greater occa* 
fion. If thou canft help thyj "elf \ do. If thou haft any fe- 
cret fource of relief, go not out of thyfelf Tor other aflxftance. 
If thou haft any facrifce to offer j if thou haft any flrength 
to exert ; yea if thou haft any allies on earth, or in the 
invifible world, who can defend and deliver thee ; take 
thine own way, fo that thou mayeft but be delivered at 
all, and we may not fee thy ruin. But fay, O fmner, in 
the prefence of God, what facrifice thou wilt prefent, 
wiiat flrength thou wilt exert, what allies thou wilt havo 

rqcourfe 



CJi. 7* Ht has no facrifice to atone for fin. a* 

recourfe to, on fo urgent, fo hopelefs an cccafion : For 
hopelefs muft I indeed pronounce it if fuch methods are 
taken. 

§. 3. The juftice of God is injured : Haft thou anr 
atonement to make to it ? If thou waft brought to an en- 
quiry and propofal like that of the awakened fmner, 
wherewith fbal! I come before the Lord, and bow my f elf before 
the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt -offerings 
with ca foes of a year old? Will the Lord be pleafed with 
thoufands of rams, or with ten thoufands of rivers of oil ? (a) 
Alas, wert thou as great a prince as Solomon himfelf 
and couldft thou indeed pttrchafe fuch facrifices as thefe' 
there would fee no room to mention them. Lebanon would 
not befuffictsnt to burn, nor all the beafls thereof for a burnt of- 
fering, (b) Even under that difpenfation, which admit- 
ted and required facrifices in fome cafes, the blood of bulls 
end of goats, though it exempted the oifender from farther 
temporal punifhment, could not take away fn, (c) nor pre- 
vail by any means to purge the confcience in the fight of 
God. And that foul, that had done ought prefumptuovflu 
was not allowed to bring wy fin-offering or trefpafs-offerC 
At all, but was condemned to die <with 9Ut mercy, (d) Now 
God and thine own confcience know, that thine offence* 
have not been merely the errors of ignorance and inad- 
vertency, but that thou ha/1 finned with an high hand in re- 
peated aggravated inftances, as thou haft acknowledged 
already.-Shoulaft thou -add, with the wretched firmer 
defcnbed above,>// I give my frf -born for my tranfgrejhn ; 
the fruit of my body for the fin of my foul? (e) What fould 
the blood of a beloved child do in fuch a cafe, but dve 
thy crimes fo much the deeper, and add a yet unknown 
horror to them ? Thou haft offended a being of infinite 
majefty; andifthat offence is to be expiated by blood, it 
muft be by another kmd of blood, than that which flows in 
the veins of thy children, or in thine own. 

fall fatisfeaion? But where fhall that fatisfafiion be 

made ?— Shall it be by any calamities to be endured in this 

; mortal momentary life? Is the juftice of God then ef- 

(a) Mic. vi. 6, 7 . (b) Ifai. xl. 16. U) FeTf \ 
| (d) Numb. *v. 39. (e) Mic. vi. 7 . l ; ■ x ' 4 ' 



to6 Nofufferingsofhisownivillfavehim, &C. Ch. 7. 

teemed fo little a thing, that the forrows of a few days 
fhould fuffice to anfwer its demands ? — Or doft thou think 
of future fufferings in the invisible world ? If thou doft, 
that is not deliverance ; and with regard to that I may ven- 
ture to fay, when thou haft made full fatisfadJion, thou 
wilt h9 rehajed : When thou haft paid the uttermcfl farthing 
of that debt, thy prifon doors fhall be opened. In the mean 
time, thou mud make thy led in hell t (f) And O unhap- 
py man, wilt thou lie down there, with afecrethope, 
that the moment will come, when the rigour of divine 
iuftice will not be able to inflicl: any thing more than thou 
haft endured, and when thou mayeft claim thy difcharge 
as a matter of right ? It would indeed be well for thee, if 
thou could carry down with thee fuch a hope, falfe and 
flattering as it is : But alas thou wilt fee things in fo juft 
a light, that to have no comfort but this, will be eternal 
defpair. That one word of thy fentence, everlasting 
jfire • that one declaration, the worm dieih not, and the fire 
is not 'quenched ; will be fufficient to ftrike fuch a thought 
into black confufion, and to overwhelm thee with hope- 
lefs agony and horror. 

§. 5. Or do you think that your fatttre reformation, and 
diligence in duty for the time to come, will procure your dif 
charge from this fentence ? Take heed, fmner, what kind 
of obedience thou thinkeft of offering to an holy God. 
That muft be fpotlefs and complete, which his infinite 
fanaity can approve and accept, if he confider thee in 
thyfelf alone : There muft be no inconftancy, no forget- 
fuhiefs, no fixture of fin, attending it. And wilt thou, 
enfeebled as hou art, by fo much original corruption, 
and fo many fmful habits contracted by innumerable actu- 
al tranfgrefii ns, undertake to render fuch an obedience, 
and that for all die remainder of thy life ? In vain wouldft 
thou attempt it, even for one day. New guilt would 
immediately x'unge thee into new rum. But if it did 
not • if from" s moment to the very end of thy life all 
were as comp. — obedience as the law of God required 
from Adam ir paradife, would that be fufficient to can- 
eel pall guilt P V ould it difcharge an old debt, that thou 
hadft not contr 1 fted a new one ? Offer thif to thy neighbor t 

ana 

(f) Pfal. cxxxix. *. 



Ch. 7« His fellow-creatures cannot help him. 97 

and fee //"^? will accept it for payment ; and if he will not, 
wilt thou prefume to oifer it to thy God ! 

§. 6. But I will not multiply words on fo plain a fub- 
je&. While I fpeak thus, time is paffing away, death 
preifes on, and judgment is approaching. And what can 
lave thee from thefe awful fcenes, or what can protect 
thee in them ? Can the world fave thee ? that vain delu- 
five idol of thy wifhes and purfuits, to which thou art 
facriftcing thine eternal hopes ? Well do ft thou know, 
that it will utterly forfake thee, when thou needeft it . 
moft ; and that not one of its enjoyments can be carried 
along with thee into the invifible ftate : No, not fo much 
as a trifle to remember it by ; if thou couldft defire to 
remember fo inconftant, and fo treacherous a friend, as 
the world has been. 

§. 7. And when you are dead, or when you are dy- 
ing, can your fmful companions fave you ? Is there any one 
of them, if he were ever fo defirous of doing it, that can 
give unto God a ranfom for you, (g) to deliver you from 
going down to the grave, or from going down to hell ? Alas, 
you will probably be fo fenfible of this, that when you 
lie on the border of the grave, you will be unwilling to 
fee, or to converfe with thofe, that were once your fa- 
vourite companions. They will afflict you rather than 
relieve you, even then : How much lefs can they relieve 
you before the bar of God, when they are overwhelmed 
with their own condemnation ? 

. §. -8. As for the powers of darhnefs, you are fure they 
will be far from any ability, or inclination to help you. 
Satan has been watching and labouring for yo\sx deftruc- 
tion, and he will triumph in it. But if there could be 
any thing of an amicable confederacy between you, what 
would that be, but an affociation in ruin ? For the day of 
judgment of ungodly men, will alfo be the judgment of thefe 
rebellious fpirits ; and the fire into which, thou, O finner, 
mi'Jl depart, is that which was prepared for the devil and his 
angels, (h) 

§. 9. Will the celeflial fpirits then fave thee P will they 
interpofe their power, or their prayers, in thy favour ? 
An interpofition of power, when fentence is gone forth 
I againft 

(g) Pfal. xlix. 7. (h) Matt. xxv. 41. 



9 8 The /inner's lamentation In his mifery. Ch. 7,' 

again ft thee, were an act of rebellion againft heaven* 
which thefe holy and excellent creatures would abhor. 
And when the final pleafure of the judge is known, in- 
ftead of interceding in vain for the wretched criminal, 
they would rather, with ardent zeal for the glory of their 
Lord, and cordial aequiefcence in the determination of 
his wifdom and juftiee, prepare to execute it. Yea, difficult 
as it may at prefent be to conceive it, it is a certain truth, 
that the fervants of Chrrf^-who now mofl tenderly love 
you, and mofl affectionately feek your falvation ; not ex- 
cepting thofe, who are allied to you in the neareft bonds 
of nature or of friendlhip ; even they mail put their Amen. 
to it. Now indeed their bowels yearn over you, and their 
eye pour eth out tears on your account : Now they exp'oftu- 
late with you, and plead with God for you, if by any 
means, while yet there is hope, you may be pluc ked as the 
f re-brand out of the burning, (i) But alas, their remon- 
flrancesyou will not regard ; and as for their prayers, 
what mould they afk for you ? What but this, that you 
may fee yourfelves to be undone ? and that, utterly de{- 
pairing of any help from yourfelves, or from any created 
power, you may lie before God in humility and broken- 
nefs of heart ; that fubmitting yourfelves to his righteous 
judgment, and in an utter renunciation of all felf-dependance, 
and of all creature-dependance, you may lift up an humble 
look towards him, as almoftfrom the depths of hell, if per- 
adventure he may have compafFion upon you, and may 
himfelf direct you to that only method of refcue, which, 
while things continue as in prefent circumftances they 
are, neither earth, nor hell, nor heaven can afford 
you. 

The Lamentation of afnner, in this miferahle condition, 

" O DOLEFUL, uncomfortable, helplefs ftate ! 
O wretch that I am, to have reduced myfelf to it I Poor, 
empty, miferable, abandoned creature ! Where is my 
pride, and the haughtinefs of my heart ? Where are my 
idol deities, whom have I loved and fcrved, cfter whom I 
have walked, and whom I have fought, (k) whilft I have 

been 

(i) Amosiv. 11. (k) Jer. viii. 2. 



Ch. 7» Thefe things are not defigned to grieve. 99 

been multiplying my tranfgreffions againft the majefty of 
heaven ? Is there no heart to have companion upon me ? 
Is there no hand to fave me ? Have pity upon me, have 
pity upon me, my friends , for the hand of God hath touched 
me, (1) hath feized me ! I feel it preffing me hard, and 
what fi all I do ? Perhaps they have pity upon me : But 
alas, how feeble a companion ! Only, if there be any 
where in the whole compafs of nature any help, tell me 
where it may be found ! O point it out ; direct me towards 
it ; or rather, confounded and aftonifhed as my mind is, 
take me by the hand, and lead me to it ! 

" O ye minlflers of the Lord, whofe office it is to guide 
and comfort diftreifed fouls, take pity upon me I I fear I 
am a pattern of many other helplefs creatures, who have 
the like need of your afliftance. Lay afide your other 
cares to care for my foul ; to care for this precious foul of 
mine, which lies as it were bleeding to death, (if that 
expreffion may be ufed,) while you perhaps hardly af- 
ford me a look ; or glancing an eye upon me, pafs over t» 
the other fide, (m) Yet, alas, in a cafe like mine, what can 
your interpofition avail if it be alone ? If the Lord do not 
help me, how can ye help me ? (n) 

" O God of thefp'irits ofalljlejh, (o) I lift up mine eyes 
unto thee, and cry unto thee as out of the belly of hell, (p) I 
cry unto thee at lead from the borders of it. Yet while I 
lie before thee in this infinite diftrefs, I know that thine 
almighty power and boundlefs grace can ftillfind out a. 
way for my recovery. 

" Thou art he, whom I have moll of all injured and 
affronted 1 and yet from thee alone mufti noW f eh redrefs. 
Againjl thee, thee only have I finned, and done evil in thyfght 5 
(q) fo that thou mightefl be jujl'if.ed when thou fpeakef, and 
be clear when thou judgefl, though thcu mouldft this mo- 
ment adjudge me to eternal mifery. And yet I find 
fomething that fecretly draws me to thee, as if I might 
find refcue there, where I have deferved the mod aggra- 
vated deflruction. Bleued be God, / have dijlroyed ray-' 
felf s'but in thee is my help, (r) if there can be help at 
all. « I 

(1) Jobxix. 2 1. (m) Luke x. 31. (n) 2 Kings vi, 27. 
(o) Numb, xv i. 2. (p) Jonah ii. 2. (q) Fial. It. 4. 
(r) Hof. xiii. 9. 



IOO The news of Salvation publi/hcd. Ch. S. 

" I know in the general, that thy ways ape not as our ways, 
nor thy thoughts as our thoughts ; but are as high above them, 
as the heavens are above the earth, (s) Have mercy therefore 
iipon me, Goo 7 , according to thy loving-hndnefs, according to 
the multitude of thy tender mercies I (t) O point out the path 
to the city of refuge ! O lead me thyfelf in the way everlajl^ 
ing 1 (u) I know in general, that thy gofpel is the only 
remedy, O teach thy fervan.ts to adminifter it ! O pre- 
pare mine heart tc receive it ! and fuffer not, as in many 
inftances, that malignity which has fpread itfclf thr< ugh 
$dl my nature, to turn that noble medicine into poiihn V* 

(s) Iiai. lv. 8, 9. (t) Pfal. li. 1. (u) Pfal. cxxxix. 24, 



CHAP. VIII. 

NEWS OF SALVATION BY CHRIST BROUGHT TO TH£ 
CONVINCED AND CONDEMNED SINNER. 

The awful things which hqve hitherto been faid, intended not t» 
grieve, but to help. §. 1. After fame reflection on the plea- 
furo ninth 'which a m'vnifter of the gofpel may deliver the Mef 
fage with which he is charged, §. 1. and fame tea fens for 
the repetition of what is in fpeculation fo generally khotvn. §. 
3. The author proceeds brief y to declare the sulflance of these 
glad tidings ; viz. that God, having in his infinite compas* 
sion sent his son to dieforjinners, is now reconcileable through 
him : §. 4 — 6. So that the mojl heinous transgrejfions Jhall 
be entirely pardoned to believers, and they made complete and' 
and eternally happy. .§. 7, 8.. The tinner's reflection on this 
good news. 

§. 1. IVJlY dear reader ! It is the great defign of 
the gofpel, and where ever it is cordially received, it 15 
the glorious effecT: of it, to fill the heart with fentiments 
of love ; to teach us to abhor all unnecefTary rigour and 
fe verity, and to delight, not in the grief, but in the hap- 

pinefs 



Ch S. God has fent his Son to dieforjinners, 10 1 

pinefs of our fellow-creatures. I can hardly apprehend, 
how he can be a chriftian, who takes pleafure in the dif- 
trefs which appears even in a brute ; much left in that of 
a human mind ; and efpecially, in mch diftrefs as the 
thoughts I have been propofmg mult give, if there be any 
due attention to their weight and energy. I have often 
felt a tender regret, while I have been reprefenting tliefe 
things ; and I could have wifhed from mine heart, that 
it had not been neceffary to have placed them in fo fevere 
and fo painful a light. But now I am addreffing myfelf 
to a part of my work, which I undertake with unuttera- 
ble pleafure ; and to that, which indeed I had in view, 
in all thofe awful things which I have already been laying 
before you. I have been mewing you, that, if you 
hitherto have lived in a Hate of impenitency and fin, you 
are condemned by God's righteous judgment, and have 
in yourfelfno fpring of hope, and no poflibility of deliv- 
erance : But I mean not to leave you under this fad ap- 
prehenfion, to lie down and die in defpair, complaining 
of that cruel zeal, which, has tormented you before the 
time, (a) 

§. 2. Arife, O thou dejecled foul, that art proftrate in 
the dull before God, and trembling under the terrors of 
his righteous fentence ; for I am commiffioned to tell 
thee, that though thou hqfl dejlroyed thyself, in God is thine 
help, (b) I bring thee good tidings of great joy, (c) which 
delight mine own heart, while I proclaim them, and will, 
I hope, reach, and revive thine ; even the tidings of fal- 
vation, by the blood and righteoufnefs of the Redeemer. 
And I give it thee, for thy greater fecurity, in the words 
of a gracious and forgiving God, that he is in Chrijl re- 
conciling the world unto himself, and not imputing to them their 
trespajfes. (d) 

§. 3. This is the beft news that ever was heard, the. 
molt important mefTage which God ever fent to his crea- 
tures : And though I doubt not at all, but living, as you 
have done, in a chriftian country, you have heard it of- 
ten, perhaps a thoufand and a thoufand times ; I will, 
with all fimplicity a.nd plainnefs, repeat it to you again, 

i and 

ia) Matt, viii. 29. (b) Hof. syi. 9, (c) Luke ii. 10. 
d) 2 Cot v 19, 



1 02 God has sent his son to dieforjinners, &c. Ch, 8, 

and repeat it as if you had never heard it before. If 
thou, O tinner, fhouldft now for the firft time feel it, 
then will it be as a new gospel, unto thee, though fo famil- 
iar to thine ear ; nor mall it be grievous for me to fpeak 
what is fo common, Jince to you it is safe and neceiiary. - 
(e) They, who are mcft deeply and intimately acquaint- 
ed with it, inltead of being cloyed and fatiated, will hear 
it with diitinguifhed pleaiure ; and as for thofe who have 
hitherto flighted it, I am fure they have need to hear it 
again. Nor is it abfolutely impoflible, that fome one 
foul at leaft may read thefe lines, who hath never been 
clearly and fully inftructed in this important doctrine, 
though his everlafting all depends on knowing and re- 
ceiving it. I will therefore take care, that fuch a one 
ihail not have it to plead at the bar of God, that, though 
he lived in a chrifcian country, he was never plainly and 
faithfully taught the doctrine of falvation by Jems Chrift, 
the way, the truth, and the life, by whom alone we come unto 
ihefathsr. (f) 

§ . 4. I do therefore teftify unto you this day, that the 
holy and gracious majefty of heaven and earth, forefeeing 
the fatal apoftacy into which the whole human race would 
fall, did not determine to deal in a way of ftrict and rig- 
orous feverity with us, fo as to confign us over to uni- 
verfal ruin and inevitable damnation : But on the con- 
trary, he determined to enter into a treaty of peace and 
reconciliation, and to publiih to all, whom the gofpel 
ihould reach, the exprefs offers of life and glory, in a 
certain method, which his infinite wifdom judged fuita- 
ble to the purity of his nature, and the honour of his gov- 
ernment. This method was indeed a moll aftonifning 
one, which, familiar as it, is to our thoughts and cur 
tongues, I cannot recollect and mention without great a- 
mazement. He determined to fend his own fen into the 
world, the bright ntfs of 'his glory, and the exprefs image, of his 
ferfon, (g)' partaker of his own divine perfections and 
honours, to be not merely a teacher of righteoufnefs, and 
a meifenger of grace, but alfo a facrince for the fins of 
men ; and would confent to his faving them, en no other 
condition but this, that he ihould not only labour, but die 
in the caufe. §• 5. 

(e) Phil. iii. 1. (f) John *iv t £, (g) Heb. i. 3. 



Ch. 8. The fujfer ings that Chrijl endured, 1 03 

§. 5. Accordingly, at fuch a period of time as infi- 
nite wifdom faw moft convenient, the Lord Jefus Chrift 
appeared in human flefh ; and after he had gone through 
incelfant, and long continued fatigues, and borne all the 
preceding injuries, which the ingratitude and malice of 
men could inflict, he voluntarily fubmitted htmfclf to death, 
even the death of the crofs ; (h) and having been delivered 
for our offences, ivas ralfed again for our jufl'ification. (i) Af- 
ter his refurrection, he continued long enough on earth to 
give his followers moft convincing evidences of it, and 
then afcended into heaven in their fight ; (k) and fent down 
his ffirit from thence upon his apoflles, to enable them, in 
the moft periuafive and authoritative manner, to preach 
the gofpel. (1) And he has given it in charge to them, and' 
to thofe who in every age fucceed them in this part of 
their office, that it fhould be publilhed to every creature ; 
(m) that all who believe in it may be faved, by virtue of 
its abiding energy, and the immutable power and grace 
of its divine author, who is the fame yejltrday, to day, and 
forever, (n) 

§, 6. This gofpel do I therefore now preach, and pro- 
claim unto thee, O reader, with the fmcereft defire, that, 
through divine grace, it May this very day befalvatkn to 
thy foul, (o) Know therefore and confider it, whofoever 
thou art, that as furely as thefe words are now before 
thine eyes, fo fure it is, that the incarnate fon of God was 
made afpetlacle to the world, and to angels and to men ; ( p ) 
* his back torn with fcourges, his head with thorns, his 
limbs ftretched out as on a rack, and nailed to the curfed 
tree ; and in this miferable condition he was hung up by 
his hands and his feet, as an object of public infamy and 
contempt. Thus did he die, in the midft of all the taunts 
and infults of his cruel enemies, who thirfted for his 
blood I and, which was the faddePi circumftance of all, 
in the midft of thefe agonies, with which he clofed the 
moft innocent, perfect, and ufeful life that was ever fpent 
upon earth, he had not thofe fupports of the divine pref- 
ence, which fmful men have often experienced, when they 

have 
(h) Phil. ii. 8. (i) Rom. iv. 25. (k) Acts i. 9—11. 
(1) Luke xxiv. 4c. (m) Mark xvi. ij. (n) Heb. xiii. 8, 
' (0} Luke xix. 9. (p) 1 Cor. iv 9. 



104 * were defgned to atone for fin. Ch. #< 

have been fufFering for the teftimony of their confcience. 
They have often burft out into tranfports of joy and fongs 
of praife, while their executioners have been glutting their 
hellifh malice, and more than favage barbarity, by mak- 
ing their torments artificially grievous, but the crucified 
Jeius cried out, in the diilrefs of his fpotlefs and holy foul, 
my God, my God, why hajl thou forfahen me ? (q) 

§. 7. Look upon our dear Redeemer ! Look up to this 
mournful, dreadful, yet in one view, delightful fpectacle ; 
and then aik thine own heart, do I believe that Jefus fuf- 
fered and died thus ? And why did he fuffer and die ? 
Let me anfwer in GocFs own words, he was wounded for 
our tranfgrejfwns, he was bruifed for our Iniquities, and tJ)£ 
chqfiifement of our peace was upon him, that by hisjirlpes we 
might be healed : It pleafed the Lord to bruife him, and to put 
him to gr'uf, when he ?nade his foul an offering for Jin ; for the 
Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. (r) So that I may ad- 
drefs you in the words of the aportle, be it known unto you 
therefore^ that through this man is preached unto you the forgive- 
nefsofjins is) as it was his command, juft after he rofe 
from the dead, that repentance and remijfion offnsjhould be 
preached in his name unto all nations, beginning at Jerufalem ; 
(t) the very place, where his blood had fo lately been 
fhed in fuch a cruel manner. I do therefore teftify to 
you, in the words of another infpired writer, that Chrifl 
was made fin, that is, a fin-offering, for us, though he knew 
no Jin, thai he may be made the righteoufnefs of God in him / (u) 
that is, that through the righteoufnefs he has fulfilled and 
the atonement he has made, we might be accepted by God 
as righteous, and be not only pardoned, but received in- 
to his favour. To you is the word of this fahation fent ; (x) 
and to you, O reader, are the bleffings of it even now of- 
fered by God ; fmcerely offered ; fo that, after all that I 
have faid under the former heads, it is not your having 
broken the law of God, that fhall prove your ruin, if you 
do not alfo reject his gofpel. It is not all thofe legions of 
fins, which rife up in battle array againft you, that mall 
be able to deflroy you, if unbelief do not lead them on, 

and 
{q) Matt, xxvii. 46. (r) Ifai. liii. 5, 6, 10. (s) A#s xai. 
38. (t) Luke xxiv. 47. (u) 2 Cor. v. 21. " (x) A&s 
siii. 26, 



Ch. 5. IVhofoever believes, Jloall be faved. iojT 

and final impenitence do not bring up the rear. I know, 
that guilt is a timorous thing ; I will therefore fpeak in 
the words of God. himfelf ; nor can any be more com- 
fortable : He that believeth on the Son, hath everlaji'tng life 9 
(y) ; and he fiall never come into condemnation, (z) There is 
therefore now no condemnation, no kind or degree of it, to them, 
to any one of them, who are in Chrifl Jefus, who walk not. 
after thejlefh, but after thefpirit. fa J You have indeed been a 
very great miner, and your offences have truly been at- 
tended with moil heinous aggravations ; neverthelefs you 
may rejoice in the affurance, that where Jin hath abounded, 
therejh all grace much more abound (h) ; that where Jn hath 
reigned unto death, where it has its moft unlimited fway, 
and mod unrefifted triumph, iherejhall right eoufnefs reign to 
eternal life through Jefus Chrifl our Lord, (c) Thatrighteouf- 
nefs, to which, on believing in him, thou wilt be entitled, 
fnall not only break thofe chains, by which fin is (as it 
were) dragging thee at its chariot-wheels with a furious 
pace to eternal ruin : but it lliall clothe thee with the 
robes offalvation, lliall fix thee on a throne of glory, 
where thou fhall live and reign forever among the princes 
of heaven ; malt reign in immortal beauty and joy, with- 
out one remaining fear of divine difpleafure upon thee; 
without any fingle mark, by which it could be known, 
that thou hadft ever been obnoxious to wrath, and a 
curfe ; except itbe an anthem of praife to the Lamb that was 
Jlain, and has wajhed. thee from thy J.m in his own blood. (&) 
§. 8. Nor is it neceiTary, in order to thy being releafed; 
from guilt, and intitled to this high and compleat felici- 
ty, that thou fhouldft, before thou wilt venture to apply- 
to Jefus, bring any good works of thine own to recom- 
mend thee to his acceptance. It is indeed true, that if thy 
faith be fmcere, it will certainly produce them : But I 
have the authority of the word of God to tell thee, that 
if thou this day fincerely believejl in the name of the Son of 
God, thou ihalt this day be taken under his care, and be 
numbered among thofe of hisjbeep, to whom, he hath gra- 
cioufly declared, that he will give eternal life, and that they 

Jloall 
(y) John iii. 36. (z) John v. 24 (1) Rom. viii. 1. 
(bj Rom. v. 20. (z) Rom. v. 21. (d) Rev. i. 5. 



lo6 Thefintier's reflexion on this good news*. Ch S. 

Jhall never perifh. (e) Thou haft no need therefore to fay, 
Who fi all go up into heaven, or who fhall defend into the deep far 
me P For the nvord is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thine heart* 
(f) With this joyful menage I leave thee ; with this 

faithful faying, indeed worthy of all acceptation, (g) with this 
gofpel, O fmner, which is my life ; and which, if thou 
doit not reject it, will be thine too, 

Thejinner's Reflection on this good news* 

" O MY foul, how aftonifhing is the mefTage, which 
thou had this day received ! I have indeed often heard it 
before ; and it is grown fo common to me, that the fur- 
prize is not feniible. But reflect, O my foul, what it is 
thou haft heard ; and fay, whether/^ name of the Sav- 
iour, whofe meflage it is, may not well be called •wonder- 
ful counfellor, (h) when he displays before thee fuch won-*, 
ders of love, and propofes to thee fuch counfels of peace ! 

" BleiTed Jefus, is it indeed thus ! Is it not the fiction of 
the human mind ? Surely it is not ! What human mind 
could have invented or conceived it ? Is it a plain, certain 
fact, that thou didft leave the magnificence and joy of 
the heavenly world, in companion to fuch a wretch as I ! 
O hadft thou, from that height of dignity and felicity, 
£>nly looked down upon me for a moment, and fent fome 
gracious word to me for my direction and comfort, even 
by the ieaft of thy fervants, juftly might I have proftrat- 
ed myfelf in grateful admiration, and have kifled the very 
footfleps of him, that puhlifhed the falvaiion. f i] But didft 
thou condefcend to be thyfelf the meifenger ? What grace 
had that been, though thou hadft but once in perfon made 
the declaration, and immediately returned back to the 
throne, from whence divine companion brought thee 
down ! But this is not .all the triumph of thine illuftrious 
grace. It not only brought thee down to earth, but kept 
thee here, in a frail and wretched tabernacle, for long 
fucceftlve years : And at length, it coft thee thy life, and 
ftretched thee out as a malefactor upon the crofs, after 
thou hadft borne infult and cruelty, which it may juftly 

wound 
(e) John x. 28. (f) Rom. x. 6, 7, 8. (g) 1 Tim. i. 15. 
(h) Ifai. ix. 6. [i] Ifai. li*. 7. 



Ch» 9 9 The firmer enquiring what he Jb all do. 107 

wound my heart fo much as to think of. And thus thou 
haft atoned injured juftice and redeemed me to Cod with thin* 
twn blood. [}l~\ 

^ What ihall I fay ? Lord I believe ; help thou mine unbe- 
$&' W fr- fee^s to put faith to the ftretch to admit, 
what it indeed exceeds the utmoft ftretch of imagination 
to conceive. BleiTed, forever blefied be thy name, O thou 
Father of mercies, that thou haft contrived the way ! E- 
ternal thanks to the lamb that was fain, and to that kind 
providence that fent the word of this falvation to me ! 
O let me not, for ten thoufand worlds, receive the grace of 
God in vain! [m] O imprefs this gofpel upon my foul, 
till its faving virtue be diffufed over every faculty ! Let 
f it not only be heard, and acknowledged, and profefied, 
but felt ! Make it thy power to my falvceion ; [n] and 

■ raife me to that humble tender gratitude, to that active 

■ unwearied zeal in thy fervice, which becomes one/o whom 
fo much is forgiven, [0] and forgiven upon fuch terms as 

thefe ! 

" I feel a fudden glow in mine heart, while thefe tid- 
ings are founding in mine ears : But, O, let it not be a 
'flight fuperficial tranfport ! O let not this, which I would 
fain call my chrifianjoy, be as that foolijh laughter, with 
which I have been fo madly enchanted, like the cracrling 
blaze of thorns under a pot ! [p] O teach me to fecure this 
mighty blefting, this glorious hope, in the method which 
. thou haft appointed ! and preferve me from miftaking the 
joy of nature, while it catches a glimpfe of its refcue from 
deft ruction, for that confent of grace, which embraces and 
infures the deliverance." 

[k] Rev. v. 9. [1] Mark ix. 24. [m] 2 Cor. vi. 1. 
I [n] Rom. i. 16. [o] Lukevii. 47. [p] Ecclef. vii. 6. 

CHAP. IX. 

A MORE PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE WAY, BY WHICB 
THIS SALVATION IS TO BE OBTAINED. 

An enquiry into the way of fahation by Chrj/l being fippofed 9 

§. 1 7%e 



1 oS All felf-dependance mvjl be given up. Ch. fy 

§. I . The firmer is in general dire tied to repentance and faith } 
$. 2. and urged to give up all felf-dependance, §. 3. and 
to feek fahation by free grace. §. 4. A Summary of more 
particular directions is propofed : §. 5. (1.) Thai the Jinner 
Jhould apply to Chrift, §. 6. with deep abhorrence of his for- 
mer fins, §. 7. and a firm refolution cfforfaking them. §. 8. 
(2.) That hefolemnly commit his foul into the hands of Ch rift, 
the great vital aSt of faith, §. 9. which is exemplified at 
large, §. 10. (3.) that he make it in J a SI the governing care 
ef his future life to obey and imitate Chrift. $. 11. This the 
only method of obtaining Gofpelfalvafion. §. 12. The /inner 
deliberating on the expediency of accepting it. 

f . 1. 1 NOW confider 7011, my dear reader, as com- 
ing to me with the enquiry, which the Jews once addreif- 
ed to our Lord ; What fl all we do, that we may work the 
works of God ? (a) What method fhall I take, to fecure 
that redemption and falvation, which I am told Chrift 
has procured for his people ? I would anfwer it as feriouf- 
■ ly, and carefully as pcffible ; as one that knows, of what 
importance it is to you to be rightly informed ; and that 
knows alio, how ftrictly he is to anfwer to God, for the 
iincerity and care with which t^he reply is made. May I 
be enabled to fpeak as his oracle, (b) that is, in fuch a man- 
ner, as faithfully to echo back what the facred oracles 
teach. 

§. 2. And here, that I may be fure to follow the faf- 
eft guides, and the faireft examples, I mult preach falva- 
tion to you, in the way of repentance towards God, and of 
faith in our Lord Jefus Chrift . (c) That good old doctrine, 
which the apoftles preached, and which no man can pre- 
tend to change, but at the peril of his own fcul, and of 
theirs who attend to him. 

$.3.1 fuppofe, that you are, by this time, convinced 
of your guilt and condemnation, and of your own ina- 
bility to recover yourfelf. Let me neverthelefs urge you 
to feel that conviction yet more deeply, and to imprefe 
it with yet greater weight upon your foul ; that you have 
undone yourfelf, and that in yourfelf is not your help found. ' d) 

Be 
(a) John vi. 28. (b) 1 Pet. iv. II. (c) Acts xx. 21. 
(d) Hof. xiii. 9. 



Ch. £> &nd 'Chrift alone le fought f$. ie$ 

Be perfuaded therefore, exprefly, and folemnly, and fin- 
cerely to give up all felf-dependaiice ; which, if you do 
not guard againft it, will be ready to return fecretly, be- 
fore it is obferved, and will lead you to attempt building 
up what you have juft been deftroying. 

§. 4. Be allured, that if ever you are faved, you mull 
afcribe that falvation entirely 'to the free grace of God.* 
If, guilty and miferable as you are, you are not only ac- 
cepted, but crowned, you muft ' lay down your crown 5 * 
with all humble acknowledgment * before the throne.' 
(e) 'No flelh mufl glory in his prefence ; but he, that 
glorieth, muft glory in the Lord : For of him are we in 
Chrift Jefus, who of God is made unto us wifdom, and 
righteoufnefs, and fanctification, and redemption.' (f) 
And you muft be fenfible, you are in fuch a ftate, as 
having none of thefe in yourfelf, to need them in another. 
You muft therefore be feniible, that you are ignorant 
and guilty, polluted and inflaved ; or, as our Lord ex- 
preil'es it, with regard to fome who were under a chrif- 
tian profeffion, that as a fmner, ' you are wretched, and 
miferable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' (g) 

§. 5. If thefe views be deeply imprelfed upon your 
mind, you will be prepared to receive what I am now to 
fay. Hear therefore in a few words your duty, your 
remedy, and your fafety ; which confifts in this, " that 
you "muft apply to Chrift, with a deep abhorrence of your 
former fins, and a firm refolution of forfaking them % 
forming that refolution in the ftrength of his grace, and 
fixing your dependance on him, for your acceptance with. 
God, even while you are propofmg to do your very beft* 
and when you have actually done the beft you ever will do 
in confequence of that purpofe " 

§. 6. The firft and moil important advice that I can: 
give you in prefent circumftances, is, 'that you look to 
Chrift, and apply yourfelf to him.' And here, ' fay not 
in your heart, who fhall afcend into heaven, to bring him 
* down to me V (h) or who fhall ' raife me up thither,' to 
prefent me before him ? The bleiTed ' Jefus by whom all 
things confift,' (i) by whom the whole fyftem of them i* 

K fupported, 

(e) Rev. iv. 10. (f) 1 Cor. i. 29, 30, 31. (g) Rev. iii. 12I 
(fe) Rom. x.6. (i)Col. i. 17. 



lid Every Jin mujl be forfaken, Cli. $* 

fupported, " forgotten as lie is by moft that bear his 
name," 'is not far from any of us :' (k) Nor could he 
have promifed to have been, ' where-ever two or three are 
met together in his name,' (1) but in confequence of 
thofe truly divine perfections by which he is every where 
prefent. Would you therefore, O fmner, defire to be 
laved ? Go to the faviour. Would you defire to be de- 
livered ? Look to that great deliverer : And though 
you fhould be & overwhelmed with guilt, and fhame, and 
fear, and horror, that you mould be incapable of fpeak- 
ing to him, fall down in this fpeechlefs confufion at. his 
feet ; and * behold him, as the lamb of God, jtiat taketh 
away the fin of the world, (m) 

§. 7. Behold him therefore with an attentive eye, and 
fay, whether the fight does not touch, and even melt thy 
very heart ! Doll thou not feel, what a foolifh, and 
what a wretched creature thou haft been ; that for the 
fake of fuch low and fordid gratifications and interefts, 
as thofe which thou haft been purfuing, thou fhouldft 
thus * "kill the prince of life ?' In) Beheld * the deep 
wounds,' which he bore for thee. * Look on him whom 
thou haft pierced, andfurely thou rnuji mourn,' (o) unlefs 
thine heart be hardened into ftone. Which of thy paft 
fins canft thou reflect upon, and fay, " fcr this it was 
worth my while, thus to have injured my faviour, and to 
have expofed the fon of God to fuch fufferings :" And 
what future temptations can arife fo ccniiderable, that 
thou lhouldft fay, " for the fake of this, I will crucify 
my Lord again ? (p) Sinner, thou muft repent ; thou 
rnuft repent of every fin ; and muft forfake it. But if 
thou doeft it to any purpofe, I well know it muft be as 
* at the foot of the crofs.' Thcu muft ' facrifice every 
luft, even the deareft ;' though it fhould be like * a right 
hand, or a right eye :' (q) And therefore that thcu may- 
eft, if pcfTible, be animated to it, I have led thee to that 
altar, on which ' Chrift himfelf was facriSeed for thee", an 
offering of a fweet-imelling favour, (r) Thcu muft ' yield 
up thyfelf to God, as one alive from the dead :' (s) And 

therefore 
(k) Acts xvii. 27. (l)Matt. xviii. 20. (m) John i. 29. 
(n) Acts iii. 15. (6)Zach. xii. 10. (p, Heb. vi. 6, 

(q) Matt. v. 29, $o. (r) Eph. v. 2, (s) Rom. vi, 13. 






Cli. 9. *nd [the foul committed to Chr'Jl* ii'i 

therefore I have fhewed thee at what a price he purchafed 
thee ; for ' thou waft not redeemed with corruptible 
things, as filver and gold, but with the precious blood of 
the fon of God, that lamb without blemifh and without 
fpot.' (t) And now I would afk thee, as before the lord, 
what does thine own heart fay to it ? Art thou grieved 
for thy former offences ? Art thou willing to forfake thy 
fins ? Art thou willing to become the chearful, thankful 
fervant of him, who hath ' purchafed thee with his own 
blood V 

§. 8. I will fuppofe fuch a purpofe as this riling in 
thine heart. How determinate it is, and how effectual it 
may be, I know not : What different views may arife 
hereafter, or how foon the prefent fenfe may wear off. 
But this I affuredly know, that thou wilt never fee reafon 
to change thefe views ; for however thou mayeft alter, the 
Lord * Jefus Chrift is the fame yefterday, to day, and for 
ever.' (u) And the reafons, that now recommend repent- 
ance and faith as fit and as neceffary, will continue in- 
variable, as long as the perfections of the bleffed God are 
the fame, and as long as his fon continues the fame. 

§. 9. But while you have thefe views and thefe pur- 
poses, I mud remind you, that this is not all that is ne- 
ceffary to your falvation. You muft not only purpofe, 
but, as God gives opportunity, you mull act, as thofe 
who are convinced of the evil of fin, and of the neceiTity 
& excellency of holinefs. And that you may be enabled 
to do fo in other inftances, you muft in the firft place, & as 
the firft great 'work of God, as our Lord himfelf calls it, 
believe in him whom God hath fent :' (x) You muft con- 
fide in him ; <; muft commit your foul into the hands of 
! Chrift, to be faved by him in his own appointed method 
of falvation." This is ' the great act of faving faith ;' 
and I pray God, that you may experimentally know 
what it means ; fo as to be able to fay, with the apoftk 
Paul, in the near views of death itfelf, * I know whom I 
have believed, and am perfuaded that he is able to keep 
that which I have committed to him until that day ;? (y) 
that great ' decifrve day, which, if we are Chriftians, wo 

have 
(t) 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. (*) Heb. xiB. 8. (x) Joha y'u 29, 
(y) 2 Tim. i. 12. 



<%12 The language of one fuhmiiing to Chr'ijl. Ch. f> 

nave always in view. . To this I would urge you ; and O 
that I could be fo happy as to engage you to it, while I 
am illuftrating it in this, and the following addrenes ; be 
affured, you muft not apply yourfelves immediately to God, 
as abfolutely or in himfelf conlidered, in the neglecl of a 
•mediator. It will neither be acceptable to him, nor fafe 
for you, to rufti into his prefeiice, without any regard to 
his own ion? whom he hath appointed to introduce fin-. 
ners to him. And if you come otherwife, you come as 
one who is not afinner. The very manner of prefenting 
the addrefs will be interpreted as a denial of that guilt, 
with which he knows ycu are chargeable : And there- 
fore he will not admit you, nor fo much as look upon 
you. And accordingly, our Lord, knowing how much eve- 
ry manlivingwas concerned in this, fays in themoft univer- 
fal terms ; ' no man cometh unto the father but by me.' (z) 
§. 10. Apply therefore to this glorious redeemer, 
amiable, as he will appear, to every believing eye in the 
blood which he ihed upon the crofs, and in the wounds 
which he received there. Go to him, O fmner, this day, 
this moment, with all thy fins about thee. Go jii/l as thou 
tirt ; for if thou wilt never apply to him, till thou art 
jfirft righteous and holy, thou wilt never be righteous 
and holy at all ; nor canft be fo on this fuppo-. 
fition, unlefs there were fome way of being fo with* 
out him ; and then, there would be no occafion for ap-> 
plying to him for righteoufnefs and holinefs. It were in- 
deed as if it mould be faid, that a fick man fhculd defer 
his application to aphyfician, till his health be recovered., 
Let me therefore repeat it without offence, goto himjuji 
as thou art, and fay, O that thou mayeft this moment be 
enabled to fay it from thy very foul ! " Bleiled Jems, I 
am furely one of the moftfmful, and one of the moil mif- 
erable creatures, that ever fell proftrate before thee : 
Nevertheless I come, becaufe I have heard that thou didft 
once fay, ' come unto me, all ye that labour, and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you reft. 5 (a) I come, be- 
caufe I have heard, thou dift gracioufly fay, * him that 
cometh unto me, I will in no wife caft out.' (b) O thou 
prince of peace, O thou king of glory, J am a condemn* 

ed 
(z) John sjv. & (a) Matt. xj» 28, (b) John vi. 37,. 



Ch. f . The language of one fubmitting to Chrifl, &c. 1 1 5 

ed miferable fmner. I have ruined my own foul, and I 
am condemned for ever, if thou doft not help me and 
fave me. I have broken thy father's law, and thine, for 
thou art l one with him.' (c) I have deierved condemna- 
tion and wrath ; and I am, even at this very moment, 
under a fentence of everlafting deftruclion : A deftruc- 
tion, which will be aggravated by all the contempt which 
I have cad upon thee, O thou bleeding lamb of God ; for 
I cannot, and will not diifemble it before thee, that I 
have wronged thee, moll bafely and ungratefully wrong- 
ed thee, under the character of a faviour, as well as of a 
Lord. But now, I am willing to fubmit to thee ; and I 
have brought my poor trembling foul, to lodge it in 
thine hands, if thou will condefcend to receive it ; and if 
thou doft not, it muft perifh. O Lord, I lie at thy feet : 
Stretch out * thy golden fceptre, that I may live !' (d) 
Yea, * i£ it pleafe the king, let the life of my foul be giv- 
en me at my petition !' (e) I have no treafure, wherewith 
to purchafe it : I have no equivalent to give thee for it : 
But if that companionate heart of thine can find a plea- 
sure in faving one of the moll diftreffed creatures under 
heaven, that pleafure thou mayeft here find. O Lord, I 
have foolifhly attempted to be mine own faviour ; but it 
will not do. I am fenfible the attempt is vain ; and 
therefore I give it over, and look unto thee. On thee, 
blefled Jefus, who art fure and fteadfaft, do T defire to 
fix my anchor. On thee, as the only fure foundation, 
would I build my eternal hopes. To thy teaching, O 
thou unerring prophet of the Lord, would I fubmit : Be 
thy doctrine ever fo myfterious, it is enough for me, that 
thou thyfelf haft faid it. To thine atonement, obedience, 
and interceffion, O thou holy and ever-acceptable high 
prieft, would I truft. And to thy government, O thou 
exalted fovereign, would I yield a willing, delightful Sub- 
jection : In token of reverence and love, I * kifs the 
fon ;' (f) I kifs the ground before his feet. I admit thee, 
O my faviour, and welcome thee with unutterable joy, to 
the throne in my heart. Afcend it, and reign there for 
ever! Subdue mine enemies, O Lord, for they are thine ; 

k and 

(c) John x. 30. (d)Efth, iv. 11. (e) Efth. vii. 5.: 

(fj Pial, ii. 12, 



1 14 The life mitft be anfweralk to it. Ch. 9. 

and make me thy faithful, thy zealous fervant ; faithful to 
death, and zealous to eternity /" 

§. 11. Such as this muft be the language of your very 
heart before the Lord. But then remember, that in con- 
fequence hereof it muft be the language of your life too. 
The unmeaning words of the lips would be a vain mockery. 
The moft affectionate tranfport of the paflions, fhould it 
be tranfient and ineffectual, would be but like a blaze of 
Jlratv, prefented inftead of incenfe at his altar. With 
fuch humility, with fuch love, with fuch cordial felf- 
dedication and fubmiffion of foul, muft thou often prof- 
trate thyfelf, in the prefence of Chrift ; and then thou 
muft go away, and keep him in thy view ; muft go away 
and live unto God through him, * denying ungodlinefs 
and worldly lufts,' and behaving thyfelf * foberly, right- 
coufly, and godly, in this vain hfnaring woild.' (g) You 
muft make it your care, to fhew your love by obedience ; 
by forming yourfelf as much as poflible, according to the 
temper and manner of Jefus, in whom you believe. You 
muft make it the great point of your ambition, and a 
nobler view you cannot entertain, to be a living image of 
Chrifl ; that fo far as circumftances will allow, even thofe 
who have heard and read but little of him, may, by ob- 
ierving you, in fome meafure fee and know i what kind of 
a life that of the blefted Jefus was.' And this muft be 
your conftant care, your prevailing character, as long as 
you live. You rrraft follow him, whitherfoever he leads 
you ; mud follow with a crofs on your fhoulder, when he 
commands you to * take it up ;' (h) and fo muft ' be faith- 
ful even to the death, expecting the crown of life.' (i) 

§. 12. This, fo far as I have been able to learn from the 
word of God, is the way to fafety and glory ; the fureft, 
the only way you can take. It is the way, which every 
faithful minifter of Chrift has trod, and is treading ; and 
the way, to which, as he tenders the falvation of his own 
■foul, he muft direct oth&rs. We cannot, we would not 
alter it, in favour of ourfelves, or our deareft friends. It 
is the way, in which alone, fo far as we can judge, it 
* becomes the bleffed God to fave his apellate creatures.' 
And therefore, reader, I befeech and intreat you feriouf- 
$y to confider it j and let your own confeience anfwer, as 

(g) Tit. ii. 12. (h) Matt, xvi, 24. (i) Rev. iu 10. ia 



Ch. 9. This the only way of falvatUn. \\$ 

in the prefence of God, whether you are willing to ac- 
quiefce in it, or not. But know, that ' to reject it' is 
thine eternal death. For as * there is no other name un- 
der heaven given among men whereby we can be fav- 
ed,' (k) but this of Jems of Nazareth, fo there is no other 
method but this, in which Jefus himfelf will fave us. 

Thejlnner deliberating on the expediency of falling in with this 
method of Salvation* 

" CONSIDER, O my foul, what anfwer wilt thou 
return to fuch proposals as thefe ! Surely, if I were to 
fpeak the firft dictate of this corrupt and degenerate heart, 
it would be, * this is a hard faying, and who can bear it ?* 
(1) To be thus humbled, thus mortified, thus fubjected I 
To take fuch a yoke upon me, and to carry it as long as I 
live ! To give up every darling luft, though dear to me 
as a right eye, and feemingly neceffary as a right hand ! 
To fubmit, not only my life, but my heart, to the com- 
mand and difcipline of another ! To have a matter there, 
and fuch a mafter as will controul many of its favourite 
affections, and direct them quite into another channel ! 
A mafter, who himfelf reprefents his commands, by 
* taking up the crofs and following him !' To adhere to the 
ftricteft rules of godlinefs and fobriety, of righteoufnefs 
and truth ; not departing from them, in any allowed in- 
flance, great or fmall, upon any temptation, for any ad- 
vantage, to efcape any inconvenience and evil, no, not 
even for the prefervation of life itfelf ; but, upon a prop- 
er call of providence, to act as if I ' hated even my own 
life !' (m) Lord, it is hard to flefh and blood : And 
yet I perceive and feel, there is one demand yet harder 
than this. 

" With all the precautions, with all thefe mortifica- 
tions, the pride of my nature would find fome inward 
recourfe of pleafure, might I but fecretly think, that I 
had been my own faviour ; that my own wifdom, and 
my own refolution, had broken the bands and chains of 
the enemy ; and that I had drawn out of my own trea- 
fures, the price with which my redemption was purchafed. 

But 
(k) Acts iv. 12. (1) John Yi. 60. (m) Luke xiv. 26, 



J"l6 The Jmner deliberating what to d*. Cfi. f. 

But mull I lie down before another, as guilty and con- 
demned, as weak and helplefs ? And muil the obliga- 
tion be multiplied, and murt a mediator have his fhare 
too ? Mull I go to the crofs for my falvation, and feek 
my glory from the infamy of that I Mull I be flriped of 
every pleafmg pretence to righteoufnefs, and Hand in this 
refpect upon a level with the vilefl of men J Hand at the 
bar among the greateil criminals pleading guilty with 
them, and feeking deliverance by that very act of grace, 
whereby they have obtained it. 

* ; I dare not deliberately fay, this method is unreafona- 
ble. My conscience teflifies, that I have finned, and 
cannot be juflified before God, as an innocent, and obedi- 
ent creature. My confcience tells me, that all thefe 
humbling circumftances are fit : That it is lit a convict- 
ed criminal fhould be brought upon his knees : That a 
captive rebel mould give up the weapons of his rebellion, 
and bow before his fovereign, if he expect his life. Yea, 
my reafon, as well as my confcience, tells me, that it is 
fit and neceiTary, that if I am faved at all, I fhould be 
laved from the power and love of fin, as well as fro'm the 
condemnation of it ; and that if fovereign mercy gives 
me a new life, after having deferved eternal death, it is 
mofl fit, I fhould ' yield myfelf to God, as alive from the 
dead.' (n) But, O * wretched man that I am, I feel a 
law in my members, that wars againft the law of my 
mind,' (o) and oppofes the conviction of my reafon and 
confcience. Who ihall deliver me from this bondage ? 
Who fhall make me willing to do that, which I know in 
my own foul to be mofl expedient ? O Lord, fubdue my 
heart, and let it not be drawn fo ftrongly one way, while 
the nobler powers of my mind would direct it another : 
conquer every licentious principle within, that it may be 
my joy to be fo wifely governed, and reft rained ! Efpe- 
cially, fubdue my pride, that lordly corruption, which 
fo ill fuits an impoverifhed and a condemned creature ; 
that thy way of falvation may be amiable to me, in pro- 
portion to the degree in which it is humbling ! I feel a 
difpofition to * linger in Sodom, hut O be merciful to 

me, 
(a) Rom. vi. 13* (©) Rom. vii. 23, 24* 



Ch. 10. GonviBions frequently wear off. lif 

me, and pull me out of it,' (p) before the florins of thy 
flaming vengeance fall, and there be no more efcap*. 
ing i" 

(p) Gen. xix. 16. 



CHAP. X. 

THE SINNER SERIOUSLY URGED AND INTREATED T# 
ACCEPT OF SALVATION IN THIS WAY. 

Since many who have been Imprejfed with these things, suffer the 
imprejjion to wear off in vain. §. I. Strongly as the case 
speaks for itself, Jinners are to be intreated to accept this salva* 
tion. §.2. Accordingly the reader is intreated, (\) by the 
majejly and mercy of God : §. 3. (2) By the dying love of 
our Lsrd Jesus Chr'tft : §. 4. ($.J By the regard due t& 
fellow-creatures : §. 5. (\.) By the worth of his own im~ 
mortal soul. §. 6. The matter is solemnly left with the reader, 
as before God. §. 7. The Jimer yielding to these Intreatiesy 
and declaring his acceptance of salvation by Chrijl. 

f. 1. X HUS far have I often known convictions and 
imprefllons to arife, if I might judge by the ftrongeft ap- 
pearances, which after all have worn off again. Some 
unhappy circumftances of external temptation ever joined 
by the inward reluctance of an unfan&ified heart to this 
holy and humbling fcheme of redemption, has been the 
ruin of multitudes. And * through the deceitfulnefs of 
fin, they have been hardened,' (a) till they feem to have 
been * utterly deftroyed, and that without remedy.' (b) 
And therefore, O thou immortal creature, who art now 
reading thefe lines, I befeech thee, that while affairs are 
in this critical fituation, while there are thefe balancings 
of mind, between accepting and rejecting that glorious 
gofpel, which, in the integrity of my heart, I have novt 

been 
(a) Heb. iii. 13. (b) Prey. x*U« i„ 



ItS The Jlnner Intreated, in God's name : Ch. 10. 

been laying before you, you would once more give me an 
attentive audience, while I plead in God's behalf, ihall I 
fay ? or rather in your own ; while * as an embafTador 
for Chrift, and as though God did befeech you by me, I 
pray you in Chrift's ftead that you nueuld be reconciled to 
God;' (c) and would not, after thefe awakenings and 
thefe enquiries, by a madnefs which it will furely be the 
doleful bufmefs of a miferable eternity to lament, 'reject 
this companionate counfel of God towards you.' 

§. 2. One would indeed imagine, there fhould be no 
need of importunity here. One would conclude, that as 
foon as perilhmg fmners are told, that an offended God 
is ready to be reconciled ; that he offers them a full par- 
don for all their aggravated fins ; yea, that he is willing 
to adopt them into his family new, that he may at length 
admit them to his heavenly prefence ; or mould with the 
utmoft readinefs and pleafure embrace £o kind a mefTage, 
and fall at his feet in fpeechlefs tranfports of aftonifliment, 
gratitude, and jo v. But alas, we find it much otherwife. 
We fee multitudes quite unmoved, and the impreffions 
which are made on many more are feeble and tranfient. 
Left it mould be thus with you, O reader, let me urge the 
mefTage with which I have the honour to be charged : 
X.et me intreat you to be reconciled to God, and to ac- 
cept of pardon and (alvation in the way in which it is fo 
freely offered to you. 

§. 3. I intreat you, "by the majefty of that God, in 
whofe name I come ;" whofe voice fills all heaven with 
reverence and obedience. He fpeaks not in vain to legions 
of angels ; but if there could be any contention among 
thofe blefled fpirits, it would be, who fhould be firft to 
execute his commands. O let him not fpeak in vain to a 
wretched mortal ! I intreat you, " by the terrors of his 
wrath," who could fpeak to you in thunder ; who could, 
by one fingle act of his will, cut off this precarious life of 
yours, and fend you down to hell. I befeech you " by 
his mercies, by his tender mercies ;" by the bowels of his 
compamon, which flill yearn over you ; as thofe of a par- 
ent over a dear son, over a tender child, whom notwith- 
ftanding his former ungrateful rebellions ' he earneftl^ 

remembers 
(e) 2 C@r, v, 20, 



Ch. 10, By the love of a dying redeemer : II9 

remembers ftill.' (d) I befeech and intreat you, by all 
this " parental goodnefs" that you do not, as it were, 
compel him to lofe the character of the gentle parent, in 
that of the righteous judge ; lb that, as he threatens with 
regard to thofe whom he had jure, called ' his fons and his 
daughters, a fire mould be kindled in his anger, which 
mould burn unto the loweft hell.' [e] 

§, 4. I befeech you farther, " by the name and love of 
our dying faviour." I befeech you, by all the conde- 
fcenfion of his incarnation ; by that poverty, to which he 
voluntarily fubmitted, ' that ycu might be enriched with 
eternal treafures ;' [f] by all the gracious invitations 
which he gave, which ftill found in his word, and ftill 
coming, as it were, warm from his heart are ' fweeter than 
honey, or the honey ccmb. [g] I befeech you, by all his 
glorious works of power and of wonder which were alfo 
works of love. I befeech you, by the memory of the molt 
benevolent perfon, and the moft generous friend. I be- 
feech you, by the memory of what he fuffered as well as 
of what he faid and did ; by the agony which he endured 
in the garden, when his body was covered * with a dew of 
■ blood.' [h] I befeech you, by all the tender diftrefs which 
he felt, when his deareft friends ' forfcok him and fled,' 
£i] and his blood-thirfty enemies dragged him away, 
like the meaneft of (laves, and like the vileft of criminals. 
I befeech you, by the blows and bruifes, by the ftripes 
and lalhes, which this injured fovereign endured while in 
their rebellious hands ; by the Jhame of /pitting, from which 
he hid not that kind and venerable * countenance.' [k] I 
befeech you, by ' the purple robe, the fceptre of reed, and 
the crown of thorns which this king of glory wore, that he 
might fet us among the princes of heaven. [1] I befeech 
you, by the heavy burthen of the cross under which he 
panted, and toiled, and fainted in the painful way to 
* Golgotha,' [m] that he might free us from the burthen 
of our fins. I befeech you, by the remembrance of thofe 
rude nails, that tore the veins and arteries, the nerves and 

tendons 
[d] Jer. xxxi. 20. [e] Deut. xxxii. 19, 22. [f] 2 Cor. 
yiii, 9. [g] Pfal. xix. 10. [h] Luke xxii. 44. [i] Matt, 
xxvi. 56. [k] Ifai. 1. 6. [1] Pfal. cxiii. 8. [m] John 
xix, 17. 



120 JBy all that Chrtft did and fvjfered. Ch, io* 

tendons of his facred hands and feet ; and by that invinci- 
ble, that triumphant goodnefs, which, while the iron 
pierced his fleih, engaged him to cry out, * father, forgive 
them, for they know not what they do.' [n] I beieech 
you, by the unutterable anguifh which he bore, when 
lifted up upon the cross, and extended there as on a rack, for 
fix painful hours, that you open your heart to thofe at- 
tractive influences, which have ' drawn to him thoufands 
and ten thoufands.' [o] I befeech you, by all that in* 
fult and derifion, which the ' Lord of glory bore there ;' 
[p] by that parching thirjl, which could hardly obtain 
the relief of ' vinegar ;' [q] by that doleful cry, fo af- 
tonifning in the mouth of ' the only begotten of the fath- 
er, my God, my God, why hail thou forfaken me ?' [r~] 
I befeech you, by the grace that fubdued and pardoned 
* a dying malefactor ;' [s~] by that companion for finners, 
by that ccmpafficn for you, which wrought in his heart> 
long as jts vital motion continued, and which ended not 
when * he bowed his head, faying, it is fmifned, and gave 
up the ghoft.' [t] I befeech you, by the triumphs of that 
refurretlion, by which he was < declared to be the fen of 
God with power, by the fpirit of holinefs Which wrought 
to accomplifh it ;' [u] by that gracious tendernefs which 
attempered all thofe triumphs, when he faid to * her out 
of whom he had call feven devils, conce-rmng his-difciples 
nvho had treated him fo bafly, go tell my brethren, I af« 
cend unto my father and your father, unto my God and 
your God.' [x] I befeech you, by that condefcenfion, 
with which he faid to Thomas, when his unbelief had 
made fuch an unreaibnable demand, ' reach hither thy 
finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thine 
hand, and put it to my fide; and be not faithlefs, - but 
believing. ' [y] I beieech you, by that generous and 
faithful care of hi:, people, which he carried up with him 
to the regions of glory, and which engaged him to fend 
down 'his fpirit, in that rich profufion of miraculous 
gifts, to fpread the progrefs of his faving word.' [z] I 

befeech 

[n] Luke xxiii. 34. [o] John xii. 32. [p] Matt, xxvii. 39, 

44. (q) John xix. 28, 29. (r) Matt, xxvii. 46. (s) Luke 

xxiii. 42,43. (t) John xix. 30. (u) Rom. i. 4. (x) Joha 

xx. 17. (y) John xx. 27. (z) Acis ii. 33, 



• Ch io» By the regard that is due to ethers* tit 

befeech ycti, by that voice of fympathy and power, with 
Which he /aid to Saul, while injuring his church, ' Saul* 
Saul, why perfecuteft thou me ?' (a) by that generous 
goodnefs, which fpared that proftrate enemy, when he 
lay trembling at his feet, and railed him to fo high a dig- 
nity, as to be * not inferior to the very chiefeft apoftles. 
(b) I befeech you, by the memory of all that Chrifl 
hath already done, by the expectation of all he will far- 
ther do for his people. I befeech you, at once, by the 
fceptre cf his grace, and by that fword of his juftice, with 
Which all his incorrigible enemies ihall be * flain before 
him,' (c) that you do not trifle away thefe precious mo-* 
ments while his fpirit is thus breathing upon "you ; that 
you do not lofe an opportunity which may never return, 
and on the improvement of which your eternity de- 
pends. 

$. £•. I befeech ycu, " by all the bowels of ' compaffioa 
which you owe to the faithful mimflers of Chrifl ;" who 
are ftudying and labouring, preaching and praying, 
wearing out their time, exhauiling their ftrength, and, 
very probably, fhortning their lives, for the falvation of 
your foul, and of fouls like yours. I befeech you, by the 
affection, with which all that love our Lord Jefus Chrifl in 
.flncerity, long to fee you brought back to him. I be- 
feech you, by the friendfhip of the living, and by the 
memory of the dead ; by the ruin of thofe who have tri- 
fled away their days, and are periflied in their fins, and 
by the happinefs of thofe who have embraced the gofpel, 
and are faved by it. I befeech you, by the great expec- 
tation of that important * day, when the Lord Jefus lhall 
be revealed from hesiven ;' (d) by ' the terrors of a dif- 
fclving world ;' (e) by * the found of the arch-angel's 
trumpet,' (f) and * of that infinitely more awful fentence* 
come, ye blerTed, and depart ye curfed, with which that 
grand folemnity lhall cloie' (g) 

§ . 6. I befeech you finally " by your own precious and 
immortal foid ;" by the fure profpeft of a dying bed, or of 
a fudden furprize into the invifible ftate ; ' and as you 
L would 

!a) Acts ix. 4. (b) 2 Cor. xii. 11. (c) Luke xix 27. 
d) 2 Thef. i. 7. (e) 2 Pet. iii. 10. (f) 1 Thef. iv, i& 

* (g) Matt. xxv. 34, 41. 



lt% And by the worth cf his own /out. Ch. I©» 

would feel one fpark of comfort, in yotir departing 
fpirit, when y our flefh and your heart are Jailing . I befeech 
you, by your own perfonal appearance before the tribu* 
nal of Chrift, (for a perfonal appearance it mull be, even 
to them who now fit on thrones of their own ;) by all 
the tranfports of the blefied, and by all the agonies of the 
damned, the one or the other of which muft be your ever- 
lafting portion* I affectionately intreat and befeech you 
in the ftrength of all thefe united considerations, as you 
will anfwer it to me, -who may in that day be fummcned 
to teftify againftyou ; and, which is unfpeakably mere, 
as you Will anfwer it to your own confeience, as you will 
anfwer it to the eternal judge ; that -you difmifs not thefe 
thoughts, thefe meditations, ancl thefe cares, till you 
have brought matters to a happy ifme ; till you have 
imade a refolute choice of Chrift, and his appointed way 
offalvation, and till yen have fclemnly devoted ycurfelf 
to Gcd in the bonds of an everlafting covenant. 

§. 7. And thus I leave the matter before ycu, arid be- 
fore the Lord. I have told you my errand : I have di£* 
charged my embaiTy. Stronger arguments I cannot ufe ; 
more endearing and more awful confederations I cannot 
fuggeft. Chuie therefore, whether ycu will go out (as 
it were) clothed in fackcloth, to caft yourfelf at the feet 
of him who now fends you thefe equitable and gracious 
terms of peace and pardon ; or, Whether you will hold it 
©ut, till he appears fword in hand, to reckon with you for 
your treafons and your crimes, and for this neglected em» 
bafly among the reft of them. Fain would I hope the 
beft ; nor can I believe, that this labour of love ihali be fo 
entirely unfuccefsful, that not one foul mall be brought 
to the foot of Chrift, in cordial fubmiffion and humble 
faith. ' Take with you therefore words, and turn unto 
the Lord ;' (h) and O that thofe which follow, might, 
in effect at leaft, be the genuine language of every one 
that reads them . 

The f inner yielding to thefe intreaiies, and declaring his accept- 
ance offd-vation by Chrift* 

" BLESSED Lord, it is enough t It is too much I 
(h) Hof. *iv* 2* furely 



Cli. 10.- The finner yielding to thefeitiireaiies. 123 

Surely there needs not this variety of arguments, this im- 
portunity of perfuafion, to court me to be happy, to pre- 
vail upon me to accept of pardon, of life, of eternal glo- 
ry. Companionate faviour, my foul is fubdued ; fo that 
I truft, the language of thy grief is become that of my 
penitence, and I may fay, ' my heart is melted like wax 
in the midft of my bowels.' (i) 

" O gracious redeemer ! I have already neglected 
thee too long. I have too often injured thee ; have cru- 
cified thee afrejhbj my guilt and impenitence, as if I had 
taken pleafure in i putting thee to an open fhame.' (k) 
But my heart now bows itfelf before thee, in humble un- 
feigned fubmiffion, I defire to make no terms with thee 
butthefe, that I may be entirely thine, I cheerfully 
prefent thee with a blank, intreating thee, that thou wilt 
do me the honour to fignify upon it, what is thy plea- 
fure. Teach me, O Lord, what thou wouldfi have me t» 
do / For I defire to learn the leffon, and to learn it that 
I may praclife it. If it be more than my feeble powers 
can anfwer, thou wilt, I hope, give me more ftrength ; 
and in that ftrength I will ferve thee. O receive a foul, 
which thou haft made willing to be thine ! 

" No more, O bleffed Jefus, no more is it neceffary to 
befeech and intreat me. Permit me rather to addrefs 
myfelf to thee, with all the importunity of a perifhing 
finner, that, at length, fees and knows, * there is falva- 
tion in no other !' (1) Permit me now, Lord, to come, 
and throw myfelf at thy feet, like a helplefs outcaft, that 
has no fhelter but in thy generous companion ! like one 
purfuedby the avenger of blood and feeking earneftly an ad- 
mittance ' into the city of refuge !' (m) 

" I wait for the Lord, my foul doth wait ; and in thy 
word do I hope/ (n) that thcu wilt ' receive me gra- 
cioufly.' (o) My foul confides in thy goodnefs, and 
adores it. I adore the patience, which has borne with 
me -fo long ; and the grace, that now makes me heartily 
willing to be thine ; to be thine on thine own terms, thine 
on any terms. O fecure this treacherous heart to thyfelf ! 
O unite me to thee in fuch iufeperable bonds, that none* 

of 
(i) Pfal. xxii. 14. (k) Heb. vi. 6. (1) A<5h iv. 12, 
(m) Jolh. xx. 2, 3. (n) PfaL exxx. |. (0} Hof. xiy. 2* 



-<f&4 A parting adarefs to the hdr dried /inner. Ch. I fr, 

of the allurements of flefh and blood, none of the vanities 
of an enfnaring world, none of the felicitations of finful 
companions, may draw me back from thee, and plunge 
me into new guilt and ruin ! * Be furety, O Lord, for 
thy fervant for good ;' (p) that I may ftill keep my hold 
on thee, and fo on eternal life ; till at length I know 
rmore frlly, by joyful and everlafting experience, h^vp 
complete a favipur thou art ! J ' Amen. 
(p) Pial. cxix. 122, 



CHAP. XI, 

A SOLEMN ABDRESS TO THOSE, WHO WILL NOT BS PER- 
SUADED. TO FALL IN WITH THE^ESIGN OF THE GOSPEL. 

Univerfal fuccefs not to he expected. $.7. Yet, as unwilling 
abfolutely to give up any, the author addreffes, (l) To thofe 
who doubt of the truth of Chriftianity, urging an enquiry int* 
its evidences, and dire Sing to proper methods for that purpofe, 
§. 2, — 4. (2) To thofe who determine to give it up without 
further examination, $.5. and prefume to. fet themj elves te 
oppofe it. §. 6. ($J To thofe who fpeculat'wely ajfent f§ 
Chriflianity as true, and yet will (it down without any prac- 
tical regard to its mofl important and acknowledged truths. 
Such are dif miffed with a reprefentation of the abfurdity of 
their conduct on their own principles ; §. 7, 8. with a foU 
$mn warning of its fatal confequences ; §. 9, 10, and a 
companionate prayer, introduced §. II, which concludes the 
shapter 3 and this part of the work. 

§. 1. I WOULD humbly hope, that the preceding 
chapters will be the means of awakening fome ftupid and 
infenfible miners ; the means of convincing them of their 
need of gofpel falvation, and of engaging fome cordials 
\y to accept it. Yet I cannot flatter myfelf fo far, as to 
hope this ihould be the cafe with regard to all, into whofe 

hands 



Ch. 1 1 . He Is once more called to confider 9 125 

hands this book (hall come. What * am I, alas, better 
than my fathers,' (a) or better than my brethren, who 
have in all ages been repeating their complaint, with re- 
gard to multitudes, that they * have ftretched out their 
hands all the day long to a difobedient and gainfaying 
people V (b) Many fuch may, perhaps, be found, in 
the number of my readers : Many, on whom, neither 
conhderation of terror, nor of love, will make any deep 
and lading impreffion : Many, who, as our Lord learnt 
by experience to exprefs it, 'when we pipe to them, will 
not dance, and when we mourn unto them, will not la* 
ment.' (c) I can fay no more to perfuade them, if they 
make light of what I have already faid. Here therefore 
we mull part ; in this chapter I muft take my leave of 
them ; And, O that I could do it in fuch a manner, as to 
fix at parting, fome conviction upon their hearts ; that 
though I feem to leave them for a little while* and fend 
them back to review again the former chapters, as thofe 
in which alone they have any prefent concern, they might* 
foon, as it were, overtake me again, and find a fuitable- 
nefs in the remaining part of this difcourfe, which at. 
prefent they cannot poilibly find* Unhappy creatures ! 
I quit you, as a phyiician quits a patient whom he loves,, 
and is juft about to give over as incurable :. He returns 
again and again, and re-examines the feveral fymptoms, 
to obferve whether there be not fome one of them more 
favourable than the reft, which may encourage a renew- 
ed application. 

§. 2. So would I once more return to you. You do. 
not find in yourfelf any difpofition to embrace the gof> 
pel, to apply yourfelf to Chrift, to give yourfelf up to the 
ferviceof God, and to. make religion the bufinefs of your life.. 
But if I cannot prevail upon you to do this, let me engage 
you, at lead, to anfwer me, or rather to anfwer your own 
confcience. "Why you will not do it ?" Is it owing to 
any fecrefdi {belief of the great principles of religion ? If it be,. 
the cafe is different from what I have*yet confidered, and 
the cure muft be different. This is not a place to com-. 
bat with the fcruples of infidelity. Neverthelefs I would 
defire you feriouily to enquire,.^ " how far thofe fcruples 

1 extend." 

(a) i Kings xix. 4. (b) Rom. x. 21. (c) Matt. xi. 17* 



12 6* suhat is the reafon of his unbelief. Ch. Tr* 

extend." Do they effect only fome particular doctrines 
of the gofpel, on which my argument hath turned ? or 
do they affect the whole Chriftian revelation ? Or do they 
reach yet farther, and extend themfelves to natural reli- 
gion, as well as revealed, fo that it ihould be a doubt 
with you, whether there be any God, and providence,, 
and future irate, or not ? As thefe cafes are all different, 
fo it will be of great importance to diftinguiih the one 
from the other ; that you may know, on what principles 
to build as certain, in the examination of thofe concern- 
ing which you are yet in doubt. But whatever thefe 
doubts are, I would- farther afk you, " how long have 
they continued, and what method have you taken to get 
them refolved :"■ Do you imagine, that in matters of 
fuch moment, it will be an allowable cafe for ycu to tri- 
fle on, neglecting to enquire into the evidence of thefe 
things, and then plead your not being fatisfied in that 
evidence, as an excufe for not acting according to them ? 
Muft not the principles of common fenfe allure you, that 
if thefe things be true, as when you talk of doubting a- 
bout them, you acknowledge it, at leaft, pofhblethey 
may, they are of infinitely greater importance than any of' 
the affairs of life, whether of bulinefs or pleasure, for the 
fake of which you. neglect them ? Why then do you ceiiw 
tinue indolent and unconcerned, from week to week, 
and from month to month ; which probably confcience 
tells you is the cafe ? 

§. 3. Do you afk, "what method yon mould take to 
"be refolved I" It is no hard queftion. Open your eyes i: 
Set yourfelf to think : Let confcience fpeak ; and verily 
do I believe, that if it be not feared in an uncommon de- 
gree, you will find mrewd forebodings of the certainty, 
both of natural and revealed religion, and of the abfolute 
neceffity of repentance, faith and holinefs, to a life of fu-. 
ture felicity. If you are a perfon of any learning, you 
cannot but know, by what writers, and in what treatifes, 
thefe great truths are defended. And if you are not, you 
may find, in almoft every town and neighbourhood, per- 
fc-ns capable of informing you in the main evidences of 
Chriftianity, and of aniwering fuch fcruples againft it as, 
unlearned minds may have met with. Set yourfelf then^ 



Ch. II. He is once more catted to confider, &c» I2| 

in the name of God, immediately to confider the matter, 
If you ftudy at all, bend your ftudzes clofe this way ;, 
and trifle not with mathematicks or poetry, or hiitory, or 
law, or phyiick, which are all comparatively light as a 
feather, while you neglect this. Study the argument, as. 
for your life ; for much more than life depends on it. 
See how far you are fatkfied, and why that fatisfaction 
reaches, no farther. Compare evidences on both fides. 
And above all, confider the deiign and tendency, of the : 
New-Te (lament. See to what it would, lead you, and 
all them that cordially obey it ; and then fay, whether it- 
be not good. And confider, how 1 naturally its truth is 
connected with its goodnefs. Trace the character, and 
fentiments of its authors, whofe living image, if I may 
be allowed the exprefhon, is Hill preferved in their, writ- 
ings. And then, aik your own heart, can. you think this. 
wa» a forgery ; an impious cruel forgery ? For fuch it 
mull have been, if it were a, forgery at all;, a fcheme to 
mock God, and to ruin men, even thebeit of men, inch; 
as reverenced confcience, and would abide all extremities 
for what they apprehended to be truth. Put the queftion 
to your own heart, can I, in my confcience, believe it to be 
fuch an impolture ? Can I look up to an omnifcient God, 
and fay, " O Lord thou, knoweft, that it is in reverence 
to thee, and in love to truth and virtue, that I reject thi* 
book, and the method to happinefs here laid down V* 

§. 4. But there are difficulties in the way. — And what 
then ? Havethofe difficulties never been cleared ? Goto. 
the living advocates for Chriftianity, to thole of whofe 
abilities, c-mdor, and piety, you have the belt opinion ; 
if your prejudices will give you leave to have a good opin=> 
ion of any fuch : Tell them your difficulties :. Hear their 
folutions : Weigh them fei iouily, as thofe who know 
they mud anfwerit to God : And while doubts contin- 
ue, follow the truth as far as it will lead you, and take 
heed that you do not ' imprifon it in unrighteoufnefs.' (d) 
Nothing appears more inconliftent and ablurd, than for 
a man folemnly to pretend dilfatisfaction in the evidences 
of the gofpel, as a reafon why he cannot in confcience be 
3. thorough Chriftian ; when yet at the fame time hevio-. 

lates. 
(d)Rom.i. 1 8*. 



12% The £oJpe! cannot he a forgery, Ch. it 6 

lates the moil apparent dictates of reafon and confcience, 
and lives in vices condemned even by the heathens. O 
firs, Chrift has judged concerning fuch, and judged moft 
righteoufly and molt wifely i * They do evil, and there- 
fore they hate the light, neither come they to the light* 
left their deeds ihould be made manifeft and reproved.' (e) 
But there is a light, that will make manifeft and reprove 
their works, to which they ihall be compelled to come* 
and the painful' fcrutiny of which they lhall be forced to 
abide. 

§. 5. In the mean time, if you are determined to en- 
quire no farther into the matter now, give me leave at 
leaft, from a fmcere concern, that you may not heap up- 
on your head more aggravated ruin, to intreat you, that 
you would be cautious how you expofe yourfelf to yet 
greater danger, by what you muft yourfelf own to be un- 
neceffary, I mean, attempts to pervert others from be- 
lieving the truth of the gofpel. Leave them, for God's 
fake, and for your own, in pofTeilion of thofe pleafures* 
and thofe hopes, which nothing but Chriftianity can give 
them ; and act not, as if you were folic itous to add to 
the guilt of an infidel tire tenfold damnation, which they, 
who have been the perverters and deftroyersof the fouls of 
others, muft expect to meet, if that gofpel which they 
have fo adventurouily oppofed ihould prove, as it certain- 
ly will, a ferious, and to them a dreadful truth. 

§. 6. If I cannot prevail here, but the pride of dis- 
playing a fuperiority of underftanding Ihould bear on fuch 
a reader, even in oppofition to his own favourite maxims 
of the innocence of error, and the equality of all reli- 
gions confident with focial virtue, to do his utmoft to 
trample down the gofpel with contempt ; I would how- 
ever difmifs him with one propofal, which I think the im- 
portance of the affair may fully juftify. If you have done 
with your examination, into Chriftianity, and determine 
to live and conduct yourfelf as if it were aifuredly falfe, 
fit down then, and make a memorandum of that deter- 
mination. Write it down ; " on fuch a day of fuch a 
year, I deliberately refolved, that I would live and die 
rejecting Chriftianity myfelf, and doing all I could to 

overthrow 
(e) John iii. 20. 



63i. II. Themadnefs offuch as dare to oppofe it. rf«> 

overthrow it. This day I determined, not only to re-* 
nounce ail fubjection to, and expectation from, Jems of 
Nazareth ; but alfo to make it a ferious part of the bufi* 
nefs of my life, to deftroy, as far as I poffibly can, all re* 
gard to him in the mind of others, and to exert my moft 
vigorous efforts, in the way of reafoning cr of ridicule, 
to fink the credit of his religion, and if it be poffible to 
root it out of the world ; in calm, fteady defiance of that 
day, when his followers fay, he mall appear in fo much 
majefty and terror to execute the vengeance threatened to 
his enemies." Dare you write this, and fign it ? 1 firm- 
ly believe, that many a man, who would be thought a 
deift, and endeavours to increafe the number, would not. 
And if you in particular dare not to do it, whence does 
that fmall remainder of caution arife ? The caufe is plain. 
There is in your eonfcience fome fecret apprehenfion, that 
this rejected, this oppofed, this derided gofpel may after 
all prove true. And if there be fuch an apprehenlion, 
then let eonfcience do its office, and convict you of the 
impious madnefs of acting, as if k were moft certainly and 
demonftrably falfe.' Let it tell you at large, how poffible 
it is that * haply you may be found fighting againfl God :* 
(f) That, bold as you are in defying the terrors of the 
Lord, you may poffibly fall into his hands; may chance 
to hear that defpifed fentence, which when you. hear it 
from the mouth of the eternal judge, you will not be able 
to defpife : I will repeat it again, in fpite of all your 
feern, you may * hear the king fay to you, depart accurf- 
ed, into everlafting fire, prepared for the devil and his an- 
gels.'' (g) And now, go and . pervert and burlefque the 
icripture, go and lampoon the character of its heroes, and 
ridicule the fublime difcourfes of its prophets and its apof* 
ties; as fbme have done, who have left little behind them 
but the fnort lived monuments of their ignorance, their 
profanenefs, and their malice. Go and fpread like them 
the banners of infidelity, and pride thyfelfinthe number 
of credulous creatures lifted under them. But take heed a 
left the infulted Galilean direct a fecret arrow to thine 
heart, and ftop thy licentious breath before it has finifhed 
the next fentence thou wouldft utter againft him. 

$• 7* 
(f) Acts v. 30. (g) Matt. xxy. 41* 



130 The dreadful cafe of the detjt. Ch. m 

§. 7. I will now turn myfelf from the deift or the fcep- 
tick, and direct my addrefs to the nominal Chriftian ; if 
he may upon any terms be called a Chriftian, who feels 
not, after all I have pleaded, a difpofition to fubjecl: him-* 
felf to the government and the grace of that fa vi our, 
whofe name he hears. O fmner, thou art turning away 
from my Lord, in whofe caufe Ifpeak ; Outlet me earn- 
eftly intreat thee ferioufly to confider, why thou art 
turning away, and to whom thou wilt go, from him, 
whom thou acknowledged * to have the words of eternal 
life.' (h) You call yourfelf a Chriftian, and yet will not 
by any means _be perfuaded to feek falvation in good 
earneil from and through Jefus Chrift, whom you call 
your mailer and your Lofd. How do you for a moment 
excufe this negligence to your own confcience ? It I had 
urged you on any controverted point, it might have al- 
tered the cafe. If I had laboured hard to make you the 
difciple of any particular party of Chrifcians, your delay 
might have been more reafonable : Nay, perhaps, your 
refufmg to acquiefce might have been an ad of apprehend- 
ed duty to our common mailer. But is it matter of con- 
troverfy amongft Chriftians, whether there be a great, 
holy, and righteous God ; and whether fuch a being 
whom we agree to own, ihould be reverenced and loved, 
or neglected and diihonoured ? Is it a matter of contro- 
verfy, whether a fmner mould deeply and ferioufly re- 
pent of his fins, or whether he fhould go on in them ? Is 
it a difputed point amongft us, whether Jefus became in- 
carnate, and died upon the crofs, for the redemption of 
iinners, or no ? and if it be not, can it be difputed by 
them who believe him to be the Son of God and the far- 
iour of men, whether a finner mould feek to him, or neg- 
ledT: him ? or whether one who profefies to be a Chriftian, 
fhould depart from iniquity, or give himfelf up to the 
practice of it ? Are the precepts of our great mailer writ- 
ten fo obfcurely in his word, that there mould be room 
ferioufly to queftion, whether he require a devout, holy, 
humble, fpiritual, watchful, felf-denying life, or whether 
he allow the contrary ? Has Chrift, after all his preten^ 
fions of bringing life and immortality to light, left it 

movQ 
(h) John vi. 68. 



Ch. II. The/inner has letn- faithfully Warned, &C. 131 

more uncertain than he fotind.it, whether there he any 
future ftate of happinefs and mifery, or for whom thefe 
ftates are refpe&ively intended ? Is it matter of contro- 
verfy, whether God will, or will not, * bring every work 
into judgment, with every fecret thing, whether it be 
good, or whether it be evil r' (i) cr whether at the con- 
elufion of that judgment, * the wicked fliall go away into 
everlafting punifhment, and "the righteous into life eter- 
nal ?' (k) You will not, I am fare, for very fhame pre- 
tend any doubt about thefe things, and yet call ycurfelf 
aChrilt'ian. Why then will you not be perfuaded to lay 
them to heart, and to act as duty and intereft fo evident* 
ly require : O fmner, the caufe is too obvious ; a caufe 
indeed quite unworthy of being called a reafon. It isbe- 
caufe thou art blinded and befotted with thy vanities and 
thy hifts. Itisbecaufe thou haft feme perifhing 'trifle, 
which charms thy imagination and thy fenfes, fo that it 
is dearer to thee than God and ChrifT, than thine own 
foul and its falvation. It is in a word, becaufe thou art 
Pull under the influence of that carnal mind, which, what*, 
ever pious forms it may fometiir.es admit and pretend, 
< is enmity againit God, and is not fubject to the law of 
God, neither, indeed can be.' (I) And therefore, thou 
art in the very cafe of thofe wretches, concerning wherri 
our Lord faid in the days of his fleih, * ye will not come 
unto me that ye might have life,' (m) and therefore * ye 
fliall die in your fins.' (n) 

§. 8. In this cafe I fee not what it can fignify, to re- 
new thole expostulations and addrefies, which I have made 
in the former chapters. As our blefTed redeemer fays, of 
thofe who rejected his gofpel, * ye have both feen and hat* 
ed both me and my father ;' (o) fo may I truly fay with 
regard to you, I have endeavoured to fhew you in the 
plainer!: and the cleareft words both Chrift and the Father ; 
I have urged the obligations you are under to both ;- I 
have laid before you your guilt, and your condemnation ; 
I have pointed out the only remedy ; I have pointed 
out the rock, on which I have built my own eternal hopes, 
and the way in which alone I expect falvation. I have 

recommended 
(i) Ecclef. xii. 14. (k) Matt. xxv. 46. (1) Rom. viii. 7, 
(m) John Yi. 40. (n) John, viii. 24. (0) Joluixv. 24, 



J 32 His cafe will be dreadful at death* Ch. 

recommended thofe things to you, which if God gives me 
an opportunity, I will with my dying breath earneftly 
and affectionately recommend .to my own children, and 
to all the dearer!: friends that I have upon earth, who 
may then be near me 5 eileeming it the higheft token of 
my friendihip, the fureft proof of my love to them. And 
if believing the gofpel to be true, you refolve to reject it, 
I have nothing farther to fay, but that you mull abide 
by the confequence. — Yet as Mofes when he went out 
from the prefence of Pharaoh for the laft time, finding 
his heart yet more hardened by all the judgments, and 
deliverances with which he had formerly been exercifed, 
denounced upon him God's * pairing through the land in 
terror to finite the firrt-born with death, and warned of 
that great and lamentable cry which the fword of the de£- 
troying angel mould raife throughout all his realms :' (p) 
So will I, 'finner, now when I am quitting thee, fpeakto 
thee yet again, c whether thou wilt hear, or whether then 
wilt forbear/ (q) and denounce that much more terrible 
judgment, which the ' fword of divine vengeance, alrea- 
dy whetted and drawn, and bathed as it were in heaven,' 
(r) is preparing againil thee ; which mail end in a much 
inore doleful cry, though thou wert greater and more 
obftinate than that haughty monarch. Yes, fmner, that 
I may, with the apoftle Paul, when turning to others 
who are more like to hear me, * fhake my raiment and 
fay, I am pure from your blood ;' (s) I will once more 
tell you, what the end of thefe things will be. And, O, 
that I could fpeak to purpofe ! O that I could thunder 
in thine ear fuch a peal of terror, as might awaken thee, 
and be too loud to be drowned in all the noife of carnal 
mirth, or to be deaden'd by thofe dangerous opiates, with 
which thou- art contriving to.ftupify thy confeience ! 

§. 9. Seek what amuiements and entertainments thou 
wilt, O fmner, I tell thee, if thou wert equal in dignity, 
and power, and magnificence, to the * great monarch of 
Babylon, thy pomp lhall be brought down to the grave, 
and all the found of thy viols ; the worm lhall be Spread 
under thee, and the worm fhall cover thee. ' (t) Yes, fm- 
ner, 
(p) Exod. xi. 4, 6. (q) Ezek. ii. 7. (r) Ifai. xxxiv. J* 
(s) Afts *vjui. & (*) Hat. *iv» *** 



Ch. II-. but Jill more dreadful afterwards* 1 33 

ner, * the end of thefe things Is death ;' [u] death in its 
moll terrible fenfe to thee, if this continue thy governing 
temper. Thou canft not avoid it ; and, if it be poffible 
For any thing that I can fay to prevent, thou ihalt not 
forget it. Your * ft rength is not the flrength of ftones, 
.nor is your fleih of brais.' [x] You are acceffible to dif- 
eafes, as well as others ; and, if fome fudden accident do 
not prevent it, we Ihall foon fee, how heroically you will 
behave yourfelf on a dying bed, and in the near views of 
eternity. You, that now deipife Chrift, and trifle witli 
his gofpel, we mall fee you droop and languifh ; fhall 
fee all your relifk for your carnal recreations, and your 
vain companions loft. And if perhaps one and another 
of them bolt in upon you, and is brutilh and defperate 
•enough to attempt to entertain a dying man, with a gay 
ilory, or a prophane jeft, we fhall fee how you will relifli 
it. We fhali fee, what comfort you will have in reflect- 
ing on what is paft, or what hope in looking forward to 
what is to come. Perhaps trembling and aftoniihed, you 
will then be enquiring in a wild kind of conftei nation, 
what you mould do to be faved ; calling for the minifters 
of Chrift, whom you now defpife for the earneftnefs with 
which they would labour to fave your foul ; and it may 
be, falling into a delirium, or dying convulfions, before 
they can come. Or perhaps we may fee you flattering 
yourfelves, through a long lingering illnefs, that you 
•fhall ftill recover, and putting off any ferious reflection 
and converfation, for fear it Ihould overfet your fpirits. 
And the cruel kindnefs of friends and phyficians, as if 
•they were in league with fatan to make the deftruclicn of 
your foul as fure as poffible, may perhaps abet this fatal 
<leceit. 

§. 10. And if any of thefe probable cafes happen, that 
is, in fhort, nnlefs a miracle of grace match you as a 
trand out of the burning, when the flames have as it 
were already taken hold of you ; all thefe gloomy cir- 
curaftanees, which pafs in the chambers of illnefs and the 
bed of death, are but the fore-runners of infinitely more 
dreadful things. 7 who can defcribe them ! who can 
imagine them ! When furviving friends are tenderly 
M mourning 

[uj Rom. vi. 29. [x] Job vi. 12. 



134- His cafe z&ili be dreadful at death, Szc. Ch. i'h 

mourning over the breathlefs corpfe, and taking -a fend 
farewel of it, before it is laid to confume away in the 
dark and filent grave, into what hands, O fmner, will 
thy foul be fallen ! What fcenes will open upon thy fep- 
arate fpirit, even before thy deferted flefh be cold-, or 
thy iightlefs eyes are clofed ! It fhall then know, what 
it is to return to God to be rejected by him, as having 
rejected his gofpel and-his,fon, and defpifed the only trea- 
ty of reconciliation ; and that filch a one, fo amazingly 
condescending and gracious. Thou (halt know, what it 
is to be difowned by Chriic, whom thou haft refufed t© 
entertain ; and what it is, as the certain and immediate 
confequence of that, to be left in the hands of the malig- 
nant fpirits of hell; There will be no more friendship 
then : None to comfort, none to alleviate thy agony and 
difrrefs : Eut on the contrary, all around thee labouring 
to aggravate and increafe them. Thou ihalt pals away 
the intermediate years of the feparate ftate, in dreadful 
expectation, and bitter outcries of horror and lemcife. 
And then, thou malt hear the trumpet of the arch-angel,. 
in whatever cavern of that gloomy world thou art .lodged. 
Its found fhall penetrate thy prifon, where doleful and 
horrible ats it is j thou -ihalt neverthelefs wiih, that thcU 
mighteft Hill be allowed to hide thy guilty head, rather 
than mew it before the face of that awful judge, before 
whom ' heaven and earth are fleeing away/ [y] Eut 
thou mull come forth, and be reunited to a body, now 
formed forever to endure agonies, which in this mortal 
ftate would have dnTolved it in a moment. You would 
not be perfupuied to come to Chrift before : You would 
ftupidly neglect him, in fpite ofreaibn, in fpite of ccn- 
fcience, in fpite of all the tenderer!: felicitations of the gof- 
pel, and the repeated admonitions of its mo ft faithful 
minifters. But now, fmner, you fhall have an interview 
with him; if that may be called an interview, in which 
you will not dare to lift up your head to view the face of 
your tremendous and inexorable judge. There at leaft> 
how diftant foever the time of cur life and the place of 
^our abode may have been, there fhall we fee, hew ccura- 
.gicuily * your heart will endure, and hew (trcng your 

fiands 
[yl Rev. -xx. lie 



Ch. n» Pity now- leads to pray for fiich, 1 35 

hands will he, when the Lord doth this/ [z] There mail 
I fee thee, O reader, whoever thou art that goeft on in 
thine impenitency, among thoufands and ten thoufands 
of defpairing wretches, trembling and confounded. 
There fhall I hear thy cries among the reft, rending the 
very heavens in vain.. The judge will rife from the tri- 
bunal with majeftic compofure, and leave thee to be hur- 
ried down to thofe everlailing burnings, to which his 
righteous vengeance hath doomed thee, becaufe thou 
wouldil not be faved from them. Hell mall flint its 
mouth upon thee for ever, and the fad eccho of thy 
groans and outcries fhall be loft- amidjft the hallelujahs of 
heaven to all that find.mercy of the Lord in that day. 

§. it* This will moft afiuredly be the end of thefe 
things : And thou, as a Chriftian, profefTeft to know, 
and to believe it. It moves my heart at leaft, if it moves 
not thine. I firmly believe, that every one, whohim- 
felf obtains falvation and glory, will bear fo much of his 
faviour's image inwifdom and goodnefs, in zeal for God, 
and a fteady regard to the happinefs of the whole crea- 
tion, that he will behold this fad fcene with calm appro-* 
bation, and without any painful commotion -of mind, 
•But as yet I am flefh and blood ; and therefore my bow-, 
els are troubled, and mine eyes often overflow with grief, 
to think, that wretched finners will have no more com- 
panion upon their own fouls ; to think, that in fpite of 
all admonition, they will obftinately run upon final ever? 
lafting deftruclion. It would figmfy nothing here, to 
add a prayer, or a meditation, for your ufe. Poor crea- 
ture ! you will not meditate ! you will not pray ! Yet 
as I have often poured out my heart in prayer over a dying 
friend, when the force of his diftemper has rendered him 
incapable of joining with me ; fo will I now apply myfelf 
to God for you, unhappy creature! And if you dif- 
dain fo much as to read what my companion dictates ; 
yet I hope, they who have felt the power of the gofpel on 
their own fouls, as they cannot but pity fuch as you, will 
join with me in fuch cordial, though broken petitions^ 
as thefe. 

4 Prayer 
[z] Ezek. xsii. 14* 



j 36 A Prayer for the impenitent f inner. Ch. 11,. 

A Prayer in behalf of an impenitent Jtnner, in the cafe defcrlbed 
above. 

"ALMIGHTY God! 'with thee all things are 
pofTible :' [a] To thee therefore do I humbly apply my- 
ielf in behalf of this dear immortal foul, which thou here 
feeft perifhing in its fins, and hardening itfelf againft that 
everlafting gofpel, which has been the power of God to 
the falvation of fo many thouiands and millions. Thou 
itflefe, O Weifed God, thou art witnefs to the plain- 
nefs and ferioufnefs, with which the meffage has been de- 
livered. It is in thy prefence that theie awful words 
have been written ; and in thy prefence have they been 
read. Be pleafed therefore to record it in the book of 
thy remembrance, that fo ' if this wicked man dielh in 
his iniquity, after the warning has been fo plainly and fo 
folemnly given him, his blood may not be required at 
my hand,' [b] nor at the hand of that Chriftian friend, 
whoever he is, by whom this bock has been put into his, 
with a fmcere defire for the falvation of his foul. Be wit- 
nefs, O bleifed ' Jefus, in the day in which thou (halt 
judge the fecrets of all hearts,' [c] that thy gofpel has 
been preached to this hardened wretch, and falvation by 
thy blood hath been offered him, though he continue to 
defpiie it. And may thine unworthy meffenger be ' unto 
God a fweet favour in Chrifr, in this very foul, even 
though it mould at laft perilh !' [d] 

" But, O that, after all his hardnefs and impenitence, 
thou would ft ftill be pleafed, by the fovereign power of 
thine efficacious grace, to awaken and convert him ! Well 
do we know, O thou Lord ofuniverfal nature, that he, 
who made the foul, can caufe the fword of conviction to 
come near and enter into it. O that, in thine infinite 
wifaom and love, thou wouldft find out a way to inter- 
pcfe, and fave this firmer from death, from eternal 
death ! O that, if it be thy Welled will-, thou would ik 
immediately do it ! Thou knoweft, O God, he is a dying 
creature: Thou knoweft, that if any thing be done for 
him, it muft be done quickly : Thou feeft, in the book 

of 
[a] Matt. xix. 26. [b] Ezek. xxxtji. $, 9. [c] Rom.ii. i5. 
£d] 2 Cor. ii. 15. 



"€h. II. A Prayer in hhalf of the Impenitent l j Inner. i 3 7 

of thy wife and gracious decrees, a moment marked, 
which muil feal him up in an unchangeable irate : G 
that thou wouldil lay hold on him, while he is yet 'join- 
ed to the living, and hath hope !' [e] Thy immutable 
laws in the difpenfation of grace forbid, that afoul mould 
be converted and renewed after its entrance on the in- 
viftble world : O let thy facred fpirit work, while he h 
yet as it were within the fphere of his operations ! Work, 
O God, by whatever method thou pleafeit ; only have 
mercy upon him ! O X-ord, have mercy upon him, that 
lie fink not into thofe depths of damnation and ruin, on 
the very brink of which, he. fo evidently appears ! O 
that thou wouldil bring him, if that be neceifary, and 
feem to thee moil expedient, into any depths of calamity 
and diftrefs ! O that, with Manaileh, he may be * taken 
in the thorns, and laden with the fetters of affliction, if 
that may but caufe him to feek the God of his fath* 
ers V [f] 

" But I prefcribe not to thy infinite wifdom. Thou 
haft difplayed thy power in glorious and aftonilliing in- 
stances j which I thank thee, that I have fo circumilan- 
tially known, and by the knowledge of them have been 
fortified againil the ra(h confidence of thofe, who weakly 
and arrogantly pronounce that to be impoffible which is 
actually done. Thou halt, I know, done that by a An- 
gle thought in retirement, when the happy man reclaim* 
ed by it hath been far from means, and far from ordi* 
nances, which neither the molt awful admonitions, nor 
the moil tender intreaties, nor the moil terrible affli&ions, 
nor the moil wonderful deliverances had been able to 
cffecl. 

" Glorify thy name, O Lord, and glorify thy grace, 
in the method which to thine infinite wifdom mail feem 
rnoil expedient ! Only granc, I befeech thee, with all 
humble iubmiffion to thy will, that this iinner may be 
faved ! or if not, that the labour of this part may not be 
altogether in vain ; but that if fome rejecl it to their ag- 
gravated ruin, others may hearken and live i That 
thofe thy fervants, who have laboured for their deliver- 
ance and happinefs, may view them in the regions of 

m gl° r y 

[e] Ecclef. is. 4, [fj 3 Chrom x,xxiii. 1 1, iz. 



138 The cafe of a dejecled foul, &c. Ch. 12, 

glory, as the fpoils which thou haft honoured them as the 
mftruments of recovering ; and may join with them in 
the hallelujahs of heaven, * ta him, who hath loved us, 
and warned us from our fins in his own blood, and hath 
made -us of condemned rebels, and accurfed polluted mi- 
ners, kings and priefts mnto God ; to him be glory and 
dominion for ever and ever I' Amen, Tgl 



CHAP. XII. 

AN ADDRESS TO A SOUL SO OVERWHELMED WITH A SENS! 

OF THE GREATNESS OF ITS SINS, THAT IT DARES 

NOT APPLY ITSELF TO CHRIST WITH ANY HOPE 

OF SALVATION. 

The cafe defcribed at large, §. 1, — 4. as it frequently occur j. 
§. 5. Granting all that the dejecled foul charges on iff elf, §. 6, 
the invitations and prom'fes of Chr'ijl give hope. §. 7. The 
reader urged, under all his burthens and fears, to an hum-> 
lie application to him: §. 8. Which is accordingly exempli- 
Jied in the concluding refkdion and prayer. 

§. i. JL HAVE now done with, thofe unhappy crea- 
tures who defpife the gofpel, and with thofe who negleci 
it. With pleamre do I now turn myfelf to thofe, who 
will hear me with more regard. Among the various 
cafes, which now prefent themfelves to my thoughts, and 
demand my tender, affectionate, refpecriul care, there is 
none more worthy of comparucn, than that which I have 
mentioned in the title of this chapter ; none which re- 
quires a more immediate attempt of relief. 

§. 2. It'is very poffible, fome afllioled creatures may 

be ready to cry out, " it is enough : Aggravate my 

grief,- and my diftrefs,- no more* - The fentence you have 

been fo awfully describing, as what fhall be pafled and 

• • ■'■ • executed 



Ch. 12. However lad the cafe offuch may fo, 1 99 

executed on the impenitent and unbelieving, is my fen- 
tence ; and the terrors of it are my terrors. For * mine 
iniquities are gone up unto the heavens, and my trani- 
greilions have reached unto the clouds.' [a] My cafe is 
quite fmguiar. Surely there never was fo great a finner 
as I. I have received fo many mercies, I have enjoyed 
fo many advantages, I have heard fo many invitations of 
gofpel-grace ; and yet my heart has been fo hard, and 
my nature is fo exceeding fmful, and the number and ag- 
gravating circumftances of my provocations have been 
iuch, that I dare not hope. It is enough, that God 
hath fupported me thus long ; it is enough, that after 
fo many years of wickednefs, I am yet out of hell. Eve- 
ry day's reprieve is a mercy, at which I am aftonifhed. 
I lie down, and wonder, that death and damnation have 
not feized me in my walks the day paft. I arife, and 
wonder, that my bed hath not been my grave ; wonder, 
that my foul is not feparated from flefh, and furrounded 
with devils and damned fpirits. 

§. 3. "I have indeed heard the meiTage of falvation ; 
but alas, it feems no meffage of falvation to me. There 
are happy fouls that have hope ; and their hope is indeed 
in Chriit, and the grace of God manifeited in him. But 
then they feel in their hearts an encouragement to apply 
to him ; whereas I dare not do it. Chrift and grace are 
things, in which, I fear, I have no part, and muft expect 
none. There are exceeding rich and precious promifcs 
in the word of God ; but they are to me as afealed book, 
and are hid from me as to any perfonal ufe. I know, 
Chrift is able to lave : I know, he is willing to fave fome, 
But that he fhouidbe willing to fave me, fuch a polluted, 
fuch a provoking creature, as God knows, and as con- 
fcience knows, I have been, and to this day am ; this I 
know not how to believe : And the utmoll that I can 
do towards believing it, is to acknowledge that it is not 
abiblutely impoflible, and that I do not yet lie down in 
compile deipair ; though alas, I feem upon the very 
borders of it, and expect every day and hour to fall 
into it." 

J. 4. I mould not perhaps have entered fo fully into 

this 
^aj Rev. x,viii. |, 



j^q ■ yd Chrlft encourages to come to him. Ch. I2» 

this cafe, if I had not feen many in it ; and I will add, 
reader, for your encouragement, if it be_your cafe, feve- 
• ral who are now in the number of the mofl eftablifhed, 
cheerful, and ufeful Chriilians, And I hope, divine 
grace will add you to the reft, if * out of thefe depths you 
be enabled to cry unto God ;' [b] and though, like Jo- 
nah, you may feem to be * call out of his prefence, yet fliil, 
with Jonah, you look towards his holy temple.' £cj 

§. 5. Let it not be imagined, that it is in any neglect 
of that bleifed fpirit, whole office it is to be the great com- 
forter, that I now attempt to reafon you out of this dif- 
confolate frame : For it is as the great fource of reafon, 
that he deals with rational creatures ; and it is in. the ufe 
of rational, means and confiderations, that he may mofl 
juftly be expected to operate. Give me leave therefore, 
to addrefs myfelf calmly to ycu, and to afk you, what 
reafon you have for all thefe paffionate complaints and 
accufations againft yourfelf ? What reafon have you to 
iuggeft, that your cafe is fmgular, when fo many have told 
you, they have felt the fame ? "What reafon have you to 
conclude fo hardly againft yourfelf, when the gofpel 
ipeaks in fuch favourable terms ? Or what reafon to in> 
agine, that the gracious things it fays are not intended 
for you ? You know indeed more of the corruptions of 
your own heart, than you know of the hearts of others ; 
and you make a thoufand charitable excufes for their vifi- 
ble failings and infirmities, which you make not for your 
own. And it may be fome of thole, whom you admire 
as eminent faints when compared with you, are on their 
part humbling themfelves in the dufl as unworthy to be 
numbered among the lead of God's people, and wifhing 
themfelves like you, in whom they think they fee much 
more good, and much lefsofevil than in themfelves. 

§. 6. But to fuppofe the w T orfl, what if you w T ere real- 
ly the vilefl finner that ever lived upon the face of the 
earth ? What if. your iniquities had gone up unto the 
heavens every day, and * your tranfgreffions had reached 
unto the clouds ;' [d] reached thither with fuch horrid 
aggravations, that earth and heaven mould have had rea- 
fon 
[b] Pfal. cxxx. 1. [c] Jonah ii. 4. [d] Rey.jviii. 5. 
£ej Gen., xviii. 14. 



Ch. 12. The foul "is urged to apply to Chr/ft, 141 

fon to deteit 7011, as a monfter cf impiety ? Admitting 
ail this, * is any thing too hard for the Lord V [e] Are 
any fins, of which a iinner can repent, of fo deep a dye, 
that the biood of Chrift cannot wafh them away ? Nay, 
though it would be daring wickednefs and monftrous: 
folly, for any ' to fin that grace might abound,' [f] yet 
had you indeed raifed your account beyond all that di- 
vine grace has ever yet pardoned, who' mould * limit the 
holy one of Ifrael r' [g] or who mould pretend to fay, 
that it was impoffible that God might for your very 
wretchednefs chufe you cut from others, to make you a 
monument of mercy, and a trophy of hitherto un parallell- 
ed grace ? The apoflle Paul itrongly intimates this to 
have been the cafe, with regard to himfelf : And why 
might not you likewife, if indeed * the chief of fmners, 
obtain mercy, that in you, as the chief, Jefus Chrift 
might fhew forth all long-fuffering, for a pattern to them 
who mall hereafter believe ?' [h] 

§. 7. Gloomy as your apprehenfions are, I would afk. 
you plainly, do you in your confcience think, that Chrift 
is not able to fave you ? "What, is he not able to fave 
even l to the uttermoft, them that come unto God by 
him ?' [ij Yes, you will fay, abundantly able to do it ; 
but I dare not imagine, that he will do it. And how do 
you know, that he will not ? He has helped the very 
greateft fmners of all that have yet applied themfelves to 
■him : And he has made the offers of grace and falvation 
in the moil engaging and encouraging terms. * If any 
man thirft, let him come unto me, and drink :' [k] 
' Let him that is athirft, come ; and whofoever will, let 
him take of the water of life freely:' [1] * Come unto 
me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will 
give you reft :' [m] And once more, * him that cometh 
unto me, I will in no wife call out.' [n] True, will you 
fay, none that are given him by the father : Could I 
know, I were of that number, I could then apply cheer- 
fully to him. But, dear reader, let me intreat you to 
look into the text itfelf, and fee, whether that limitation 

. ' be 

[f] Rom. vi. 1. £g] Pfal. lxxviii.41. fh] 1 Tim. i. 15, 16. 
[i] Heb. vii. 25. [k] John vii. 37. [1] Rev. xxii. 17* 
£m] Matt. xi. 2?. [n] John vi. 37. 



142 The foul is urged to apply to Chrlft, &c. Ch. 12* 

Be expreisly added there. Do you there read, none of 
them whom the father hath given me fhall be caft out ? 
The words are in a much more encouraging form : And 
why mould you frustrate his wifdom and goodnefs, by 
fuch an addition of your own ? * Add. not to his words 
left he reprove thee :' (o) Take them as they ftand, and 
drink in the confolation of them. Our Lord kney into 
what -perplexity fome ferious minds might pofiibly be 
thrown by what he had before been faying, all that the 
father hath given me, mail come unto me ;• and there- 
fore, as if it were onpurpofe to balance it, he adds thole 
gracious words, him that cometh unt'o me I will in no 
wife, by no means, on no coniideration whatfoever, caft 
out. 

§. 8. If therefore you are already difcouraged and ter- 
rified at the greatneis of your fins, do not add to their 
weight and number that one greater and worfe than all 
the reft, a diftruft of the faithfulnefs and grace of the 
bleffed Redeemer. Do not, fo far as in you lies, oppofe 
all the purpofes of his love to you. O diftreiTed foul;, 
whom doft thou dread ? To whom doft thou tremble to 
approach ? Is there any thing fo terrible, in a crucified 
redeemer, in the lamb that was fiain ? If thou carried 
thy foul almoft finking under the burthen of its guilt, to 
lay it down at his feet, what doft thou offer him, but the 
fpoil which he bled and died to recover and poifefs ? And 
did he pur chafe it fo dearly, that he might reject it with 
difdain ? Go to him directly, and fall down in his pref- 
ence, and plead that mifery of thine, which thou haft now 
been pleading in a contrary view, as an engagement to 
your own foul to make the application, and as an argu- 
ment .with the companionate faviourto receive you. Go, 
and be allured, that ' where fin hath abounded, there 
grace {hall much more abound.' p Be aifured, that if 
one firmer can prcmife himfeif a more certain welcome 
than another, it is not he that is leaft guilty and miferable, 
but he that is r Ly humbled before God, under a 

fenfe of that iniiery and guilt, .and lies the loweft in the 
apprehenfion of it. 

Reflection 
(p; Prov. xxx. 6* (p y Rom. r. 2Q. 



Ch. i2o Reflection on thefe encouragements. 143 

Reflection on thefe encouragements, ending in an humlle and 
earneji application to Chrifl for mercy. 

" O MY fotil, what fayeft thou to thefe things ? Is 
there not at leaft a poffibiiity of help from Chrift ? And 
is there a poffibiiity of help any other way ? ' Is any 
other name given under heaven, whereby we may be 
fared"? I know there; is none.' {a) I mult then fay, like 
the * lepers of Ifrael, (r) if I ft here. I perifh ; and if I 
make my application in vain, I can but die. ' But perad- 
venture, he may fave my foul alive. I will therefore 
arife, and go unto him ; or rather, believing him here 
by his fpiritual prefence, fmful and miierabie as I am, I 
will "this moment fall down on my face before him, and 
pour out my foul unto him. 

" Bleifed Jefus, I prefent myfelf unto thee, as a 
wretched creature, driven indeed by neceffity to do it. 
For furely were not that neceffity urgent and abfolute, I 
fhould not dare for very fhame, to appear in thine holy 
and majeflic prefence. I am fully convince-tl, that my 
fin* and my follies have been inexcufably great ; mcie 
than I can exprefs, more than I can conceive. I feel a 
fource of fin in my corrupt and degenerate nature, 
which pours out iniquity, as a fountain fends out its wa- 
ter, and makes me a burthen and a terror to myfelf. 
Such aggravations have attended my tranfgreffions, that 
it looks like prefumption, fo much as to a& pardon for 
them. And yet, would it • not be the greater prefump- 
tion to fay, that they exceed thy mercy, and the efficacy 
of thy blood ? to fay that thou hail power and grace e- 
ncugh to pardon and fave only finners cf a lower order, 
while fuch as I lie cut of thy reach ? Preferve me from 
thatblafphemous imagination! Preferve me from that 
unreafonable fufpicion ! Lord, * thou canft do all things, 
neither is there any thought of mine heart withholden 
from thee.' (s) Thou art indeed, as thy word declares, 
' able to five unto the uttermohV (t) And therefore, 
breaking through all the oppofitions of fhame and fear, 
that would keep me from thee, I come and lie down as 

in 
(q v ; Acts iy. 12. (r) 2 Kings vii. 4. (s) Job xlii. 3* 
(t) lUb. vii. 2$< 



144 The foul humbly applies to Chrij?. Ch. 12. 

in the duft before thee. ' Thou knoweft, O Lord, all my 
fins, and all my follies.' u) I cannot, and I hope I may 
fay, I would not, difguife them before thee, or fet myfelf 
to find out plaufible excufes. Accufe me, Lord, as thcu 
pleafelt ; and I will ingenouily plead guilty to all thine 
accuiations. I will own myfelf as great a fmner, as thou 
calleil me : But I am ftill a fmner, that comes unto thee 
for pardon. If I rnuft die, it {hall be fubmitting, and 
owning the jufiice of the fatal ftrcke. If I pcrifh, it fhall 
be laying held, as it were, on the horns of the alter ; lay- 
ing mylelf down at thy foot-ftool, though I have been 
filch a rebel again it thy throne. Many have received a 
full pardon there ; have met with favour even beyond 
their hopes. And are all thy compafiions, O bleiTed Je- 
fus, exhaufted ? And wilt thou now begin to rejeil an 
humble creature, who flies to thee for life, and pleads 
nothing but mercy and free grace ? ' Have mercy upon 
me, O mod gracious Redeemer, have mercy upon me, and 
let my life be precious in thy fight V (x) O do not re- 
folve to fend me down to that ftate of final mifery and de£~ 
pair, from which it was thy gracious purpofe to deliver 
and fave fo many : 

" Spurn me not away, O Lord, from thy prefence, 
nor be offended when I prefume to lay bold on thy royal 
robe, and fay that * I cannot and will not let thee go, till 
myfuit is granted ! (y< O remember, that nry eternity is 
at ftake ! Remember, O Lord, that all my hopes of obtain- 
ing eternal happinefs, and avoiding everlafting, helplefs, 
hopelefs deft ruction, are anchored upon thee ; they hang 
upon thy fmiles, or drop at thy frown. O have mercy 
upon me, for the fake of this immortal foul of mine ! 
Or, if not for the fake of mine alone, for the fake of 
many others, who may, on the one hand be encouraged 
by thy mercy to me, or on the other, may be greatly 
wounded and difcouraged by my helplefs defpair ! I 
befeech thee, O Lord, for thine own fake, and for the dis- 
play of thy father's rich and fovereign grace! I befeech 
thee by the blood thou didftfhed on the crofs ; I befeech 
thee by the covenant of grace and peace, into which the 
father did enter with thee for the falvation of believing 

and 
(u) Ffal. lxix. 5. (x) 2 Kings i. 14. (y) Gen. xxxii. 26. 



JEb. 13. As there is danger of m'tflahing its cafe, &c. iaj 

and repenting fmners, fave me ! Save me, O Lord, who 
earneftly defire to repent and believe 1 I am indeed a fin* 
ner, in whofe final and everlafting deftruction thy jufticfe 
might be greatly glorified : But O, if thou wilt pardon 
me, it will be a monument ■ raifed to the honor of thy 
grace, and the efficacy of thy blood, in proportion to the 
degree in which the wretch, to whom thy mercy is ex- 
tended, was mean and miferable without it. Speak, Lord, 
by thy blefied fpirit, and baniili my fears S Look upon me 
with love and grace in thy countenance, and fay to me, as 
in the days of thy Hem thou didft to many an humble iup- 
pliant, thy fins are forgiven thee, go in peace I" 



CHAP. XIII. 

The doubting soul more particularly assisted in 

its enquiries as to the sincerity of its 

faith and repentance. 

Tranfent impreffions liable to he mi/taken for converfwn, which 
would be a fatal error, §, 1. General fcheme for f If exam- 
ination, §.2. Particular enquiries ; (l.) What views there 
have been of fin ? §. 3. (2.) What views there have been of 
Chrijl ? §. 4. As to the need the foul has of him : §» 5. And 
its willingnefs to receive him with a due fur render of heart 
to his fervice. §, 6. Nothing floort of this, fujficient. $.7. The 
foul fubmitting to divine examination the Jincerity of its faith 
and repentance, 

§. 1. I N confequence of all the ferious things, whick 
have been faid in the former chapters, I hope it will be 
no falfe prefumption to imagine, that fome religious im- 
preffions may be made on hearts which had never felt 
them before ; or may be revived, where they have for- 
merly grown cold and languid. Yet I am very fenfible, 
and I defire that you may be fo, how great danger there 
•is of felf-flattery on this important head $ and how necef. 
N farf 



1^6 As there u danger of mlflaking its cafc> &C. Ch. 13. 

fary it is to caution men, againft too hafty a conclusion 
yiat they are really converted, becaufe they have felt fome 
warm emotion on their minds, and have reformed the grofs 
irregularities of their former conduct. A miftake here 
might be infinitely fatal : It may prove the occafion of 
that falfe peace, which mall lead a man to * blefs himfelf 
in his own heart, and to conclude himfelf fecure while all 
the threatnmgs and curfes of God's law are founding in 
his ears, and lie indeed directly againft him :' (a) While 
in the mean time he applies to himfelf a thoufand promis- 
es, in which he has no fhare : which may prove therefore 
like generous wine to a man in an high fever, or ftrong 
opiates to one in a lethargy. The * ftony ground receiv- 
ed the word with joy, and a promifmg harveft feemed to 
be fpringing up ; yet it foon withered away,' (b) and no 
reaper filled his arms with it. Now that this may not be 
the cafe with you, that all my labours and yours hitherto 
may not be loft, and that a vain dream of fecurity and 
fiappinefs may not plunge you deeper in mifery and ruin, 
give me leave to lead you into a ferious enquiry into 
your own heart ; that fo you may be better able to judge 
of your cafe, and to diftingmm between what is at moft 
being only near the kingdom of heaven, and becoming in- 
deed a member of it. 

$. 2. Now this depends upon the fmcerity of your faith 
in Chrift, when faith is taken in its largeft extent, as ex- 
plained above •; that is, as comprehending repentance, and 
that fteady purpofe of new and universal obedience, of 
which, wherever it is real, faith will afTuredly' be the vital 
principle. Therefore to aflift you in judging of your ftate, 
give me leave to aik you, or rather to intreat you to afk 
yourfelf, what views you have had, and now have, of fin, 
and of Chrift ? And what your future purpofes are, with 
regard to your conduct in the remainder of life, that may 
lie before you ? I mall not reafon largely upon the feveral 
particulars I fuggeft under thefe heads, but rather refer 
you to your own reading and obfervation, to judge how 
agreeable they are to the word of God, the great rule, by 
which our characters muft quickly be tried, and our eter- 
nal (late unalterably determined. 

f- 3- 

{a) Dsut, jaix. 19, to. (b) Matt- xiii. 5. 0, 



Ch. 13. The foul jloould enquire into its views qfjin, &c. 14.7 

§. 3. Enquire ferioufly, in the firfl place, What views 
you have had of fin, and what fentiments you have felt in. 
your foul with regard to it ? There v/as a time, when it 
wore a flattering afpect, and made a fair enchanting ap- 
pearance, fo that all your heart was charmed with it, and. 
it was the very bufmefs of your life to practife it. But 
you have fmce been undeceived, You have felt it ' bite 
like a ferpent, and fling like an adder.' (c) You have be- 
held it with an abhorrence, far greater than the delight 
which it ever gave you. So far it is well. It is thus with 
every true penitent, and with fome, I fear, who are not of 
that number. Let me therefore enquire farther, whence 
arofe this abhorrence ? Was it merely from a principle of 
felf love ? Was it merely becaufe you had been wounded 
by it ? Was it merely becaufe you had thereby brought 
condemnation and ruin upon your own foul ? Was there 
nofenfe of its deformity, of its bafenefs, of its malignity, 
as committed againft the bleffed God, confidered as a glo- 
rious, a bountiful, and a merciful being ? Were you nev- 
er pierced by an apprehenfion of its vile ingratitude ? And 
as for thofe purpofes which have arifen in your heart a- 
gainft it, let me befeech you to reflect, how they have 
been formed, and how they have hitherto been executed. 
Have they been univerfal ? Have they been refolute ? And 
yet, amidft all that refolution, have they been humble ? 
When you declared war with fm,was it with every fin? And 
is it an irreconcilable war, which you determine, bydU 
vine grace, to pufh on till you have entirely conquered 
it, or die in the attempt ? And are you accordingly ac- 
tive in your endeavours to fubdue and deftroy it ? If fo, 
what are * the fruits worthy of repentance which you bring 
forth' ? (d) It does not, I hope, all flow away in floods of 
grief : Have you ' ceaSed to do evil ? Are you learning 
to do well' ? (e) Doth your reformation (hew, that you 
repent of your fins ; or do your renewed relapfes into fin 
prove, that you repent even of what you call your repent- 
ance ? Have you an inward abhorrence of all fin, and an 
unfeigned zeal againft it ? And doth that produce a car« 
to guard againft the occafions of it, and temptations to 
it ? Do you watch againft the circumftances that have 

enfnartd 
(c) ProY. xxitf. 32. (d) Luke iii. 8. (e) Ifai, i, 16, 17, 



't"4-£ Have j on furreniered all to Chrift f Ch. if* 

fnared you ? And do "you particularly double your guard 
againft 4 that fin which mod eafily befets you ? (f) Is that 
laid afide, that the chriftian race may be run ; laid afide 
■with a firm determination, that you will return to it no 
more, that you will hold no more parley with it, that you 
will never take another ftep towards it ? 

§. 4. Permit me alfo farther to enquire, " What yoivr 
views of Chrift have been ? What you think of him, and 
of your concern with him ?" Have you been fully con- 
vinced, that there muft be a correfpondence fettled be- 
tween him, and your foul ? And do you fee and feel, that 
you are not only to pay him a kind of diftant homage, 
and tranfient compliment, as a very wife, benevolent, and 
excellent perfon, whofe name and memory you have a 
reverence for ; but that, as he lives and reigns, as he is 
ever near you, and always obferving you, fo you muft 
look to him, muft approach him, muft humbly tranfacl 
feufmefs with him, and that bufmefs of the higheft im- 
portance, on which your falvation depends ? 

§. 5. You have been brought to enquire, 'wherewith 
fhall I come before the Lord, and bow myfelf before the 
moft high God ?' (g) And once perhaps you were think- 
ing of facrifices, which your own ftores might have been 
Sufficient to furnifti out. Are you now convinced, they 
will not fuffice ; and that you muft have recourfe to ' the 
lamb which God hath provided ? Have you had a view 
•of Jefus as taking away the fin of the world V (h) as 
4 made a fm offering for us, though he knew no fin, that 
we might be made the righteoufnefs of God in him ?' (i) 
Have you viewed him, as perfectly righteous in himfelf ; 
and defpairing of being juftified by any righteoufnefs of 
your own, have ycu ' fubmitted to the righteoufnefs of 
God ?' (k) Has your heart ever been brought to a deep 
conviction of this important truth, that if ever you are 
faved at all, it muft be thro' Chrift ; that if ever God extend 
mercy to you at all, it muft be for his fake ; that if ever you 
are fixed in the temple of God above, you muft ftand there 
as an everlafting trophy of that victory which Chrift has 
gained over the powers of hell, who would otherwife 
have triumphed over you ? 

(f) Heb. xii. 1. (g) Mic. vi. 6. $. & 

(h) John i. 29. (i) 2 Cor. v. 21. (k) Rqitl x. 3. 



£ii. I J. Nothing Jhort of this is fuffiajni* 1 49 

§. 6. Our Lord fays, « look unto me and be ye faved :' (1) 
He fays, ■'< if I be lifted up, I jfhall draw all men unto 
me.' (m) Have you looked to him, as the only faviour ? 
Have you been drawn unto him, by that facred magnet, 
the attractive influence of his dying love ? Do you know 
what it is, to come to Chrift, as a poor, ■ weary and 
heavy laden fmner, that you may find reft V (n) Do you 
know what it is, in a fpiritual fenfe to * eat the flefh, and 
drink the blood of the fon of man ;' (o) that is, to look 
upon Chrift crucified as the great fupport of your foul, 
and to feel a^ defire after him, earneft as the appetite of 
nature after its neceflary food ? Have you known what 
it isycordially to furrender yourfelf to Chrift, as a poor 
creature whom love has made his property ? Have you 
committed your immortal foul to him, that he may pu- 
rify and fave it ; that he may govern it by the dictates of 
his word, and the influences of his fpirit ; that he may 
ufe it for his glory ; that he may appoint it to what exer- 
cife and difcipline he pleafes, while it dwells here in flefh ; 
and that he may receive it at death, and fix it among 
thofe fpirits, who with perpetual fongs of praife furround 
his throne and are his fervants forever ; Have you hearti- 
ly confented to this ; And do you, on this account of the 
matter, renew your confent ? Do you renew it deliberate- 
ly and determinate! y, and feel your whole foul, as it were 
faying amen, while you read this : If this be the cafe, 
then I can with great pleafure give you, as it were, the 
right hand of fellowship, and falute and embrace you, as 
a lincere difclple of the Lord Jefus Chrift, as one who is 
* delivered from the power of darknefs, and is tranflated 
into the kingdom of the fon of God. (p) I can then fa- 
lute you in the Lord, as one to whom, as aminifter of Je- 
fus, I am commiflioned and charged to fpeak comforta- 
bly, and to tell you, not that I abfolve you from your 
fins, for it is a fmall matter to be judged of man's judg- 
ment, but that the bleffed God himfelfabfolveth you ; 
that you are one, to whom he hath faid m his gofpel, and 
is continually faying, ' your fins are forgiven you; (q) 

n therefore 

,(1) Ifai. xlv. 2-2. (m) John xii. 32. (n) Matt. xi. 2&. 
(o) John vi, J3. (p) Col.i. 13, (<j) Lukevii. 48. 



\$0 Nothing fhort of this is fuj/icienf. Ch. ip 

therefore go in peace, and take the comfort of It. 
§. 7. But if you are a ftranger to thefe experiences, 
and to this temper which I have now defcribed, the great 
work is yet undone ; you are an impenitent and unbeliev- 
ing imner, and { the wrath of God abideth on you.' (r) 
However you may have been awakened and alarmed, 
whatever refolutions you may have formed for amending 
your life, how right foever your notions may be, how 
pure foever your forms of worfhip, how ardent foever your 
seal, how fevere foever your mortification, how humane 
foever your temper, how inoffenfive foever your life may 
be, I can fpeak no comfort to you. Vain are all your re- 
ligious hopes, if there has not been a cordial humiliation 
before the prefence of God for all your fins; if there has 
not been this avowed war declared againft every thing 
difpleafmg to Cod ; if there has not been this fenfe of 
your need of Chriit, and of your ruin withouthim ; if there 
lias not been this earneft- application to him, this furren- 
tler of your foul into his hands by faith, this renunciation 
of yourfelf, that you might fix on him the anchor of your 
hope ; if there has not been this unreferved dedication of 
yourfelf to be at all times, and in all refpects, the faithful 
fervant of God through him ; and if you do not with all 
this acknowledge, that you are an unprofitable fervant, 
who have no other expectation of acceptance, or of pardon, 
but only through his righteoufnefs and blood, and through 
the riches of divine grace in him ; I repeat it again, that 
all your hopes are vain, and you are ' building on the 
land/ (s) The houfe you have already raifed muft be 
thrown down to the ground, and -the foundation be re- 
moved and laid anew, or you and all your hopes will 
fhortly be fwept away with it, and buried under it in ev- 
erlafting ruin. 

The fcul fubmitting la divine examination thsjincerity of its re~ 
penianQe and faith, 

** O LORD God, thou « fearchefl all hearts, and trie ft 
the reins of the children of men.' (t) * Search me, O 
Lord, and know my heart ; try me, and know my 

thoughts ; 

(r) John Hi. 36. fs) Matt. yii. 26. (t) Jer. svii. 10. 



Ch. 1$. The foul fuhmlts its repentance 1$l 

thoughts ; and fee if there be any wicked way in me, and 
lead me in the way everlafting/ (u) Doth not my con- 
ference, O Lord, teftify in thy prefence, that my repent- 
ance and faith are fuch as have been defcribed, or at leaft 
that k is my earnefl prayer, that they may be fo ? Come 
therefore, thou bleffed fpirit, who art the author of all 
grace and confolation, and work this temper more fully 
in my foul ! O reprefent fin to mine eyes in all its moft o- 
dious colours, that I may feel a mortal and irreconcilable 
hatred to it ! O reprefent the majefty and mercy of the 
bleffed God, in fuch a manner, that my heart may be a- 
larmed, and that it may be melted ! * Smite the rock, that 
the waters may flow ;' (x) waters of genuine, undiiTem- 
bled, and filial repentance ! Convince me, O thou bleffed 
fpirit, ' of fin, of righteoufnefs, and of judgment ! (y) 
Shew me, that I have undone myfelf, but that ' my help 
is found in God alone,' (z) in God through Chrift in 
whom alone he will extend companions and help to me! 
According to thy peculiar office, * take of Chrift, and 
ihew it unto me !' (a) Shew me his power to lave ! Shew 
me his willingnefs to exert that power ! Teach my faith 
to behold him, as extended on the crofs with open arms, 
and with a pierced bleeding fide ; and fo telling me in 
the moil; forcible language, what room there is in his 
very heart foi me ! May I know what it is, to have my 
whole heart fubdued by love ; fo fubdued, as to be ' Cru- 
cified with him ;' (b) to be dead in fin, and dead to the 
world, 'but alive unto God through Jefus Chrift V (c) 
In his power and love may I confide ! To him may I 
without any referve commit my fpirit ! His image may I 
bear ! His laws may I obferve ! His fervice may I pur- 
fue ! And may I remain, through time and eternity, a 
monument of the efficacy of his gofpel, and a trophy of 
his victorious grace ! 

" O bleffed God ! If there be any thing wanting to- 
wards conftituting me a fmcere Chriftian, difcover it to 
me, and work it in me ! Beat down, I befeech thee, eve*. 
Tf falfe and prefumptuous hope, how coftly foever that 
building may have been which is thus laid in ruins, and 

(u) Pfal. exxxix. 23. how 

(x) J?fal. lxxviii. 20. (y) John xvi. 8. (z) Hof. xiii. 9, 
(a) John $vi, 15. (b) Rom. vi. 6. (c) Rom. vi. iju 



Ijz and faith t« the dhtine examination, Ch. 14^ 

how proud foever I may have been of its vain ornaments ! 
Let me know the worft of my cafe, he that knowledge 
ever fo diflrefsful ; and if there be remaining danger, O 
let my heart be fully fenfible of it, fenfible while yet there 
is remedy ! 

" If there be any fecret fin yet lurking in my foul, 
which I have not fmcerely renounced, difcover it to me, 
and rend it out of my heart, though it mould have mot its 
roots ever fo deep, and mould have wrap'd them all a- 
round it, So that every nerve fliould be pained by the fep* 
aration ! Tear it away, O Lord, by a hand gracioufly fe- 
vere ! And by degrees, yea, Lord, by fpeedy advances, 
go on, I befeech thee, to perfect what is ftill i lacking in 
faith ! (d) Accompliih in me * all the good pleafure of thy 
goodnefs : (e) Enrich me, O heavenly father, with all 
the graces of thy fpirit : Form me to the compleat image 
of thy dear fon : And then, for his fake * come unto me, 
r.nd manifeft thy gracious prefence in my foul, (f) till it 
is ripened for that ftate of glory, for which all thefe ope- 
rations are intended to prepare it ! Amen /" 
(d) 1 Thef. iii, 10. (e) 2 Thef. i. 11. (f) John xiv. 21, 25, 



CHAP. XIV. 

A MORE PARTICULAR VIEW OF THE SEVERAL BRANCHES 
OF THE CHRISTIAN TEMPER ', BY WHICH THE READ- 
ER MAY BE FARTHER ASSISTED, IN JUDGING 
WHAT Hi IS, AND WHAT HE SHOULD EN* 
BEAYOUR TO BE.f 

The importance of the cafe engages to a more particular furvey^ 
what manner of 'fpirit loe are of §. 1,2. Accordingly the 
Chriflian temper is defer ibed, (\.) By feme general views of 

it > 

f N. R. This chapter is almofl an abridgment of that excel- 
hnt book of Dr. Evans, intitled, The Chriflian Temper, fo 
far as it relates to the defcrlption of it. For particular argu- 
ments, to inforce each part of this temper I mufl refer the reader 
to the book itfelf 



Ch 14. Afurvey of the Chrijllan temper^ 13*3 

it ; as a new and divine temper, §. 3. As refmbling that of 
Chrift, §. 4. And as engaging us to be fpiritually minded, 
find to walk by faith. §. 5. A plan of 'the remainder .„ $.6. 
In which the Ghriflian temper is more particularly consider- 
ed, (II. J With regard to the blejfed God ; as including far, 
ajfeclion, and obedience. §. 7. Faith and love to Chri/l, §.8, 
9. Joy in him. §. 10. And a proper temper toward the ho- 
ly fpirit, particularly as a fpirit of adoption-, end of courage, 
f. 11. — 13. fill. J With regard to on f elves ; as includ- 
ing preference of the foul to the body, humility , purity . §. 14. 
'Temperance, §. 15. Contentment, §. 16. And patience. 
§. 17. (IV.) With regard to our fellow creatures ; ss in- 
eluding love, §. 18. Meeknefs, §. 19. Peaceablenefs, §. 20* 
__ Mercy, §. 21. Truth, §. 22. And candor in judging, 
§. 23. (V.) General qualifications of each branch : §. 24. 
Such as fincerity, §. 25. Confancy, §. 26. Tetidernefs y 
§. 27. Zeal, §. 28. and prudence, §. 29. Thefe things 
Jhould frequently be recolletled. §. 30. A review of all inn 
fcriptural prayer. 

§. 1. W KEN I confider the infinite importance of 
eternity, I find it exceedingly difficult to fatisfy myfelf 
in any thing which I can fay to men, where their eternal 
interefts are concerned. I have given you a view, I hope, 
I may truly fay, a juft, as well as faithful view, of a tru- 
ly Chrifiian temper already. Yet ior your farther afiift- 
ance, I would offer it to your confideration in various 
points of light, that you may be aflifted in judging of 1 
what you are, and of what you ought to be. And in 
this I aim, not only at your conviction, if you are yet a 
flranger to real religion, but at your farther edification, 
if by the grace of God you are by this time experiment- 
ally acquainted with it. Happy will you be, happy be- 
yond exprefiion, if, as you go on from one article to anoth- 
er, you can fay, " This is my temper and character," 
Happy in no inconfiderable degree if you- can fay, " This 
is what I defire, what I pray for, and what I purfue, in 
preference to every oppofite view, though it be not what 
I have as yet attained. 

§* 2. Search then, and try, f what manner of fpirit yon 

ar$ 



IJ4 as implying * itew and divine temper, Ch. 14. 

are of? (a) And may he that fearcheth all hearts direA 
the enquiry, and enable you * fo to judge yourfelf, that 
you may not be condemned of the Lord !' (b) 

$. 3. . Know in the general, " that if you are a Chrif- 
tian indeed, you have been ' renewed in the fpirit of your 
mind ;' (c) fo renewed, as to be regenerate, and born a- 
gain." It is not enough, to have alfumed a new name, 
to have been brought under fome new reftraints, or to 
have made a partial change in fome particulars of your 
conduct. The change muft be great and univerfal. En- 
quire then, whether you have entertained new apprehen- 
iions of things, have formed a practical judgment differ- 
ent from what you formerly did ; whether the ends you 
propofe, the affections which you feel working in your 
heart, and the courfe of action to which by thofe affec- 
tions you are directed, be on the whole new or old ? * A- 
gain, " if you are a Chriflian indeed, you are ' partaker 
of a divine nature ;' (d) divine in its original, its tenden- 
cy, and its refemblance." Enquire therefore, whether 
God hath implanted a principle in your heart, which 
tends to him, and which makes you like him. Search 
your foul attentively, to fee if you have really the image 
there of God's jnoral perfections, of his hoiinefs and 
righteoufnefs, his goodnefs and fidelity ; for « the new 
man is after God created in righteoufnefs and true hoii- 
nefs,' (e) and ' is renewed in knowledge after the image 
of him that created him.' (f) 

§. 4. For your farther affiflance enquire, " whether 
' the fame mind be in you which was alfo in Chrift ;' (g) 
whether you bear the image of God's incarnate Son, the 
brighteft and faireft refemblance of the Father, which 
earth or heaven has ever beheld ?" The bleffed Jefus de- 
figned himfelf to be a model for all his followers ; and he 
is certainly a model mofl fit for our imitation : An exam- 
ple in our own nature, and in circumftances adapted to 
general ufe ? an example, recommended to us at once by 

its 
(a) Luke ix. 55. (b) 1. Cor. xi. 31, 32. (c) Eph. iv. 23. 

* The reader may fee thsfe thoughts ilhtji rated at large, in the 
three Jirjl of my fermons on regeneration. 
(d) 2 Pet. i. 4. (e) Eph. iv. 24. (f) Col. iii. 10. 
(gj Phil. ii. 5. 



Ch. 14. It refemlles that of ChriJ, 155 

its fpotlefs perfection, and by the endearing relations in 
which he ftands to us, as our mailer, our friend, and our 
head ; as the perfon by whom our everlafting irate is to 
be fixed, and in a refemblance to whom our final happi- 
nefs is to confift, if ever we are happy at all. Look then 
into the life and temper of Chrift, as defcribed and illuf- 
trated in the gofpels, and fearch whether you can find any 
thing like it in your own life. Have you any thing of his 
devotion, love, and refignation to God ? Any thing of his 
humility, meeknefs, and benevolence to men ? Any thing 
of his purity and wifdom, his contempt of the world, his 
patience, his fortitude, his zeal ? And indeed all the oth- 
er branches of the Chriftian temper, which do not imply 
previous guilt in the perfon by whom they are exercifed, 
may be called in to illuftrate and ailift your enquiries 
under this head. 

§. 5. Let me add, " If you are a Chriftian, you are in 
the main * Spiritually minded, as knowing that is life and 
peace ; whereas to be carnally minded is death.* h " 
Tho' you * live in the flelh, you will not war after it ;' (i) 
you will not take your orders, and your commands from 
it. You will indeed attend to its necefiary interefts, as 
matter of duty ; but it will flill be with regard to another 
and a nobler intereft, that of the rational and immortal 
ipirit. Your thoughts, your affections, your purfuits, your 
choice will be determined by a regard to things fpiritual, 
rather than carnal. — In a word, " you will * walk by- 
faith, and not by fight.' I .k" Future, invifible, and in feme 
degree incomprehenfible objects will take up your mind. 
Your faith will act on the being of God, his perfections, 
his providences, his precepts, his threatnings, and his 
promifes. It will act upon ' Chrift, whom having not 
feen, you will love and honor. (1, It will act on that un- 
feen world, which it knows to be eternal, and therefore 
infinitely more worthy of your affectionate regard than a- 
ny of * thofe tilings which are feen, and are temporal, m) 

§. 6. Thefe are general views of the Chriftian temper, 
on which I would intreat you to examine yourfelf : And 
now I would go on to lead you into a furvey of the grand 

branches 

(h) Rom. viii. 6. (i.) 2 Cor. jc. 3. (k) 2 Cor. v. 7* 
(l) 1 Pet, I 8, (m) t Cor. iv. 16. 



1 5 6 £n d engages to be fpintuaUy minded. Ch. 1 4> 

branches of it, as relating to God, our neighbor, and our- 
ielves ; and of thofe qualifications, which mufl attend 
each of thefe branches, fuch as fmcerity, confiancy, ten- 
dernefs, zeal, and prudence. And I beg your diligent 
attention, while I lay before you a few hints with regard 
to each, by which you may judge the better, both of your 
{late, and your duty. 

§. 7. Examine then, I intreat you, " the temper of 
your heart, with regard to the blefied God." Do you 
find there a reverential fear, and a fupreme love and ven- 
eration for his incomparable excellencies, a defire after 
him as the highefl good, and a cordial gratitude towards 
him as yourfupreme benefactor ? Can you truft his care-? 
Can you credit his teilimony ? Do you defire to pay an 
unreferved obedience to all that he commands, and an 
humble fubmiilion to all the difpofals of his providence ? 
Do you defign his glory as your noblefl end, and make it 
the great bufmefs of your life to approve yourfelf to him ? 
Is it your governing care to imitate him, and to * ferve 
him in fpirit and in truth ?' (n) 

§. 8. Faith in Chrifl I have already defcribed at large ; 
and therefore {hall fay nothing farther, either of that per- 
iiiafion of his power and grace, which is the great founda- 
tion of it ; or of that acceptance of Chrifl under all his 
characters, or that furrender of theibul into his hands, ia 
which its peculiar and diflinguifhing nature confifts. 

§. 9. If this faith in Chrifl be line ere, " it will undoubt- 
edly produce a love to him ;" which will exprefs itfelf, 
m affectionate thoughts of him ; in ftrict fidelity to him ; 
■In a careful obfervation of his charge ; in a regard to his 
fpirit, to his friends, and to his interefls ; in a reverence 
to the memorials of his dying love, which he has inflitut- 
ed ; and in an ardent defire after that heavenly world, 
where he dwells, and where he will at length ' have all his 
people to dwell with him. ( o ) 

§. 10. I may add, agreeably to the word of God, " that 
thus believing in Chrifl, and loving him, you will alfo re- 
joice in him ;" in his glorious defign, and in his complete 
fitnefs to accomplifh it, in the promifes of his word, and ia 
the privileges of his people. It will be matter of joy t$ 

you, 

(n) John iv. 24. (o) John xviL 24, 



Ch. 14. What it includes with regard to Goc!> 1^7 

you that fuch a Redeemer has appeared in this worlcfof 
ours ; and your joy for yourfelves will be proportionable 
to thedegree of clearnefs, with which you difcern your 
intereft in him, and relation to him. 

§. 11. Let me farther lead you into feme reflections on 
" the temper cf ycur heart towards the Bfeffed Spirit." 
If* we have not the Spirit - cf Chrift, we are none of his' 
(p) If we are net ' led by the Spirit of God,' we are not 
4 the children of God.' [q] You will then, if you are a 
real chriftian, defire that you ' may be filed with the 
Spirit ;' [r] that you may have every power of ycur foul 
fubject to his authority ; that his agency on your heart 
maybe more conftant, more operative, and more delight- 
ful. And to cherifh thefe facred influences, you will often 
have recourfe to fcrious conii deration and meditation : 
You will abftain from thofe fms, which tend to grieve him : 
You will improve the tender feafons, in which he feems to 
■breathe upon your foul ; you will ftrive earneffly with 
God in prayer, that you may have him ' fried on you' frill 
more * abundantly through Jeiiis Chrift :' [s] And you 
will be deiirous tb fall in with the great end of his minion, 
which was 'to glorify Chrift,' [t] and to efcablifh his 
kingdom. " You will defire his influences as the ' Spi- 
rit of adoption.' to render your ads of worfhip free and 
affectionate, your obedience vigorous, your fcrrow for lin 
overflowing and tender, your refignation meek, and ycur 
love ardent ; in a word, to carry you through ^ life and 
death, with the temper of a child who delights in his fa- 
ther, and who longs for his more immediate prefence. 

§. 12. Once more, if you are a chriftian indeed, you 
will " be defirous to obtain the fpirit of courage." Amidft 
all that humility of foul to- which you will be formed, you 
will wifh to commence a hero in the caufe of Chrift, op- 
pofing with a vigorous reiblution the ftrongeft efforts of 
the powers of darknefs, the inward corruption of your 
own heart, and all the outward difficulties ycu may meet 
with in the way of your duty, while in the caufe and in 
the ftrength of Chrift you go on ' conquering and to con- 
quer. 

O f. 13. All 

[p] Rom. viii. 19, [q] Rom. viii. 14. [r] £ph. v« 
18. [s] Tit. iii. 6. [tl John xvi. 14. 



rj'8 io Chrtfi, and to the Holy Spirit. Ch. 14* 

$. 13. All thefe things may be confidered as ' branches 
©f godlinefs ;' of that godlinefs, which is ' profitable unto 
all things,' and hath' the prornife of the life which new 
is 7 and of that which is to come' C u ]* 

§. 14. Let me now farther lay before yon feme bran- 
ches of the chriftian temper, " which relate more imme- 
diately to ourfelves." And here, if you are a chriftian 
indeed, you will undoubtedly " prefer the foul to the 
body, and things eternal to thofe that are temporal.'' 
Confcious of the dignity and value of y cur immortal part, 
you will come to a firm refolution to fecure its happinefs, 
whatever is to be refigned, whatever is to be endured in 
that view, — If you are a real chriftian, * you will be alfo 
cloathed with humility.' £x] You will have a deep 
ienfe of your own- imperfections, both natural and moral; 
of the mort extent of your knowledge 5 of the uncertainty 
and weaknefs of your refolutions ; and of your continual 
depenclance upen God, and upon almoft every thing about 
you. And efpecially, you will be deeply fenfible of your 
guilt, : the remembrance of which will fill ycu with . 
ihame and ccnfufion, even when ycu have fome reafon to 
hope it is forgiven. This will forbid all haughtinefs and 
infclence in your behaviour to your fellow creatures, it 
will teach you, under afflictive providences with all holy 
fubmiffion to ' bear the indignation of the Lord,' as thofe 
th at know they i have finned againft him,' [y] — Again, 
If you are a chriftian indeed, you " will labour after pu- 
rity of foul," and maintain a fixed abhorrence ofall pro- 
hibited feniual indulgence. A recollection of part impur- 
ities will fill you with ihame and grief ; and you will en- 
deavour for the future to guard your thoughts and de- 
fires as well as your words and actions, and to abftain, 
not only from the commiihon of evil, but ' from the dis- 
tant appearance' and probable occafions ' of it ;' [z] as 
confcious of the perfect holineis of that God with whom 
you cenverfe, and of the < purifying nature of that hope,' 
[a] which by his gofpel he hath taught you to entertain. 

§.. j 5, With this, is nearly allied " that amiable virtue, 
of temperance ;" which will teach you to guard againft 

fuch 
f u] 1 Tim. iv. 8. [x] 1 Pet. v. 5. [y] Mic. vii. 9. 
[z] t laeif. v. 22. £aj 1 John iii. 3. 



Ch. 14 The graces this temper includes, Sec. 159 

fuch a ufe of meats and drinks, as indifpofes the body for 
thefervice of the foul ' r <3rfuch an indulgence ineitlier, as 
will rob you of that precious jewel; your time, or occaiion. 
an expence beyond what your circumftances will admit, 
and beyond what will confift with thofe liberalities to the 
poor, which your relation and theirs to God and each 
other will require. In fhort, you will guard againil what- 
ever would alienate the foul from communion with God, 
and would diminifh its zeal and activity in his fervice. 

§. 16. The divine philofophy of the bleiied Jefus will 
alfo teach you * a contented temper.' It will moderate 
your delires of thofe worldly enjoyments, after which ma- 
ny feel fuch an infatiable thirit, ever growing with indul- 
gence and fuccefs. You will guard againft an immode- 
rate care about thofe things, which would lead you into 
a forgetfulnefs of your heavenly inheritance. If provi- 
dence difappoint your undertakings, you will fubmit. If 
others be more profperous, you will not envy them ; but 
rather will be thankful for what God is pleafed to beftow 
upon them, as well as for what he gives you. No unlaw- 
ful methods will be ufed to alter your prefent condition ;. 
and whatever it is, you will endeavour to make the beffc 
of it ; remembering, it is what infinite wifdorn and good- 
nefs have appointed you, and that it is beyond all compa- 
rifon better than you have deferved ; yea, that the very 
deficiencies and inconveniencies of it may conduce to the 
improvement of your future and compleat happinefs. 

§. 1 7. With contentment, if you are a difciple of Chrifr, 
" you will join patience too," and ' in patience will poflefs 
your fouls.' [b] You cannot indeed be quite infeniible, 
either of afflictions, or of injuries ; but your mind will be 
calm and compofed under them, and fteady in the profe- 
cution of proper duty, though afflictions prefs, and though 
your hopes, your deareit hopes, and profpe&s be delayed. 
Patience will prevent hafty and ralh conclufions, and for- 
tify you againft feeking irregular methods of relief ; dif- 
pofing you in the mean time, till God fliall be pleafed to 
appear for you, to go on fteadily in the way of your duty 5 
* committing yourlelf to him in well doing.' [c] You will 
alfo be careful, that ' patience may have its perfect 

workj 

[b] Luke xxi. 19. [c] 1 Pet. iv. 19. 



160 The graces of the ch/Jllan temper > tkc. Ch. 14 

work, [dj and prevail in proportion to thofe circum Ran- 
ees which demand its peculiar exercile. For inftance r 
when the iiiccefilons of evil are long and various, fo that 
' deep calls to deep, and all God's waves and billows 
feem to be going over you one after another ;' [e] when 
God touches you in the molt tender part ; when the rea- 
sons of his condaol to you are quite unaccountable ; whei% 
your natural fpirits are weak and decayed ; when unlaw- 
ful methods of redrefs feem near and eafy ; ftrll your re- 
icefor the #ill or your heavemy f -.her will carry it 
1 .1. and keep you waiting quietly for deliverance 
in his own time and way. 

N. B. If this chapter feem too long to be read at ence it may 
properly be divided here, 

§. 18, I have thus led you into a brief review of the 
chriitian temper, rt'ith refpecl to ' God, and ourfelves :' 
Permic me now to aid, ' that the gofpel will teach you 
another fet of very important leifons with refpect to '.your 
fellow creatures.' They are all fummed up in this, * Thou 
malt love thy neighbour as thyfelf :' [f] i and whatfoever 
thou wouldiV [time is, whatibever thou couldft in an ex- 
change of circumtlances fairly and reafonably defrre,] 
' that others hV-uli do unto thee, do thou likewife the 
fame unto them.' [g] The religion of the bleffed Je- 
ms, when it triumphs 1.1 your foul, will conquer the pre- 
dominancy of an irregular feif-love, and will teach you 
candidly and tenderly to look upon your neighbour as an- 
other felf. As you are fenilble of your own rights, you 
will betentible of his ; as you fupport your own character 
you will fupport his. You will deure his welfare, and be 
ready to relieve his neceility, as you would have your own 
coniulted by another. You will put the kindeft cenftruc- 
tion upon his dubious words and actions : you will 
take pleafure in his happinefs : you will feel his diftrefsj 
in fome meafure as your own. And mo ft happy will you 
be, when the obvious rule is familiar to your mind, v hen 
this golden law is written upon your heart ; and when it 
is habitually and impartially confulted by you upon every 
cccafion, whether great or fmall. § 19. The 

[d] Jam. i. 4/ Pe] Pial. xlii. 7. [fj Rom. xiii. Q. 
[g] Matth. vii. 12* 



Ch. 14. AH tioje graces miifl he at! ended. IOI 

§ 19. The gofpel will alio teach you, 'to put on 
meekne-V [hj not only with refpect to God, fub- 
mitting to the authority of his word, and the difpofal of 
his providence, as was urged before, but alio with re- 
gard to your brethren of mankind. Its gentle in'uruc- 
tions will form you to calmneis of- temper under inj 
and provocations, fo that you may not be angry without 
or beyond jure caufe. It will engage you to guard your 
words, lei! you provoke and exaiperate thole you mould 
rather ftudy by love to gain, and by tendernefs to heal, 
knefs will render you flow in ufmg any rough and 
violent methods, if they can by any means be lawfully 
avoided ; and ready to admit, and even to propofe, a re- 
conciliation, after they have been entered into, if there 
yet may be hope of fucceeding. So far as this brancjj of 
the chriitian temper prevails in your heart, you will take 
care to avoid everything which might give unneceilary 
ofrence to others ; you will behave yourfelf in a model! 
manner, according to your (ration ; and it will work, 
both with regard to fuperiors and inferiors ; teaching you 
duly to honour the one, and not to overbear or opprefs, to 
grieve or infult the other. And in religion itfelf, it will 
reitrain all immoderate fallies and harfh cenfures ; and 
will command down that ' wrath of man, which, inflead of 
working, fo often oppofes the righteoufnefs of God,' [i] 
and fhames and wounds that good caufe in which it is 
boifteroufly and furioufly engaged. 

§ 20. With this is naturally connected "a peaceful 
duponfckm*." If you are a chriftian indeed, you will 
have mch a value and efteem for peace, as to endeavour 
to obtain and preferve it ' as much as iieth in you,' [k] 
as much as 3/011 fairly and honourably 'can. This will 
have fuch an influence upon your conduct, as to make yci. 
not only cautious of giving offence, and flow in taking- it, 
but earneftly delirous to regain peace as foon as may be, 
when it is in any meafure broken ; that the wound may- 
be healed while it is green, and before it begins to rankle 
and feller. And more efpecially this difpolition will en- 
gage you ' to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
o peace 

[h] Col. iij. 12, [i] James i, 20, [k] Rom..xi%i8. 



1 62 with other general qualifications. Ch. 14, 

peace,' [1] with all that in * every place call on the 
name of our Lord Jefus Chrift ;' [m] whom if you 
truly love, you will alfo love all thofe whom you have 
reafon to believe to be his diiciples and fervants. 

§ 21. If you be yourfelves indeed of that number, 
you will alfo " put on bowels of mercy.' [n] The mer- 
cies of God, and thofe of the blelled Redeemer, will work 
on your heart, to mould it to fentiments of companion 
and generality, fo that you will feel the wants and for- 
rows of others ; you will defire to relieve their neceffities, 
and, as you have opportunity, you will do good both to 
their bodies, and their fouls ; expreffing your kind affecti- 
ons in fuitable actions, which may both evidence their fm- 
cerity, and lender them effectual. 

§. 22. As a Chriitian, you will alfo maintain truth in- 
violable, not only in your folemn testimonies, when con- 
firmed by an oath, but likewife in common converfation. 
You will remember, too, that your promifes bring an ob- 
ligation upon you, which you are by no means at liberty 
to break through. On the whole, you will be careful to 
keep a ftrict correfpondence between your words and your 
actions, in fu-ch a manner as becomes a fervant of the God 
of truth. 

§ f 23. Once more, as amidft the ftricteft care to ob- 
ferve all the divine precepts you will ftill find many imper- 
fections, on account of which you will be obliged to pray, 
that " God -would not enter into ftrict judgment with 
you," as well knowing ' that in his fight you cannot 
be juftified :' £o} * you will be careful not to judge o- 
thers in fuch a manner as mould awaken the feverity of 
his judgment againfl yourfelf.' [p] You will not, there- 
fore, judge them pragmatically, that is, when you have 
nothing to do with their actions ; nor rafhly, without in- 
quiring into circum (lances ; nor partially, without weigh- 
ing them attentively and fairly ; nor uncharitably, putting 
the wont conftruction upon things in their own nature du- 
bious, deciding upon intentions as evil, farther than they 
certainly appear to be fo, pronouncing on the ftate of 
men, or on the whole of their character, from any parti- 
cular 

(1) Eph. iv. 3. [ml 1 Cor. i. 2. [n] Col, hi. J2« 
-[0] Pfai. cxliii. 2. [p] "Mattfcu vii. 1,2. 



Ch. 14. The qualifications of this temper. 16$ 

cular action, and involving the innocent with the guilty. 
There is a moderation contrary to all thefe extremes, 
which the gofpel recommends ; and if you receive the gof- 
pel in gdod earner! into your heart, it will lay the ax to 
the root of fuch evils as thefe* 

<$. 24. Having thus briefly illuftrated the principal 
branches of the chriftian temper and character, I mall 
conclude the reprefentat?on with reminding you of fome 
general qualifications, which mure be mingled with all, 
and give a tincture to each of them; fuch as fmcerity, 
conftancy, tendernefs, zeal, and prudence* 

§ 25. Always remember, " that fmcerity is the' very 
foul of true religion." A fingle intention to pleafe God, 
and to approve ourfelves to him, muft animate and govern 
all that we do in it. Under the influence of this principle 
you will impartially inquire into every intimation of du- 
ty, and apply to the practice of it fo far as it is known 
to you. Your heart will be engaged in all you do. Your 
conduct in private and in fecret will be agreeable to your 
mod public behaviour. Afenfeof the divine authority 
will teach you to * efteem all God's precepts concerning 
all things to be right, and to hate every falfe way.' [qj 

§ 26. Thus are you " in fimplicity and godly fmcerity 
to have your converfation in the world.' (r) And 
you are alfo to charge it upon your foul to be " ftedfaft 
and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the 
Lord.' (s) There muft not only be fome fudden fits 
and ftarts of devotion, or of fomething which looks like 
it, but religion muft be an habitual and permanent thing. 
There muft be a purpofe to adhere to it at all times. It 
muft be made the ftated and ordinary bufmefs of life. 
Deliberate andprefumptuous fins muft be carefully avoid- 
ed ; a guard muft be maintained againft the common in- 
firmities of life ; and falls of one kind or of another muft 
be matter of proportionable humiliation before God, and 
muft occaiion renewed refolution for his fervice. And 
thus .you are to go on to the end of your life, not difcour- 
aged by the length and difficulty of the way, nor allured 
on the one hand, or terrified on the other, by all the va- 
rious temptations which may furround and alfault you* 

Your 
(q) Pfal. cxix, 128, (r) 2 Cor. i. 12, (s) 1 Cor, x,y. 58^ 



164 A review of all in a fcnpiural prayer. Ch. 14 

Your foul muft be fixed on this bafis, and you are ftill to 
behave yourfelf as one who knows he ferves an unchange- 
able God, and who expects from him ' a kingdom which 
cannot be moved,' .t; 

§'. 27. Again, fo far as the gcfpel prevails in your 
heart, " your fpirit will be tender and the (tone will be 
transformed into fleih." You will defire that your ap- 
prehenfion of divine things may be quick, your aflecuons 
ready to take proper impreffions, your conscience always 
eafily touched, arid, on the whole, your reiblution pliant 
to the divine authority, and cordially willing to be, and 
to do, whatever God lhall appoint. . You will have a ten- 
der regard to the word of God, a tender caution agamft 
fin, a tender guard againfl the mares of profperity, a ten- 
der fubmiilion to God's af&i&ing hand : in a Word, you 
will be tender wherever the divine honour is concerned ; 
and careful neither to do any thing yourfelf, nor to allow 
any thing in another, fo far as you have influence, by 
'which God ihculd be offended, or religion reproached. 

§-. 28. Nay, more than all this, you will, fo far as true 
Chrifrianity governs in your mind, * exert an holy zeal 
in the fervice of your Redeemer and your Father. You 
will be zealouily affected in every good thing,' (u in 
proportion to its apprehended goodnefs and importance. 
You will be zealous efpecially to correct what is irregular 
in ycurfelves and to act to the utmoft of your ability for 
the cauie of God. Nor will you be able to look with an 
indifferent eye en the conduct of ethers in this view ;_but, 
fo far as charity, meeknefs, and prudence will admit, you 
will teitify your difap probation of every thing in it, which 
is difhonourabie to God and injurious to men. And you 
will labour not only to reclaim men from fuch courfes, but 
to engage them to religion, and to quicken them in it. 

§. 29. And, once ■ more, you will defire " to ufe the 
prudence which God hath given you," in judging what 
is, in prefent circumftances, your duty to God, your 
neighbour, and yourfelf ; what will be, on the whole, 
the mod acceptable manner of difcharging it, and how 
far it may be mod advantageoufiy purfued ; as remem- 
bering, that he is indeed the wifeft and the happieil man 

who, 
(t) Heb..zii. 28. (u) Gal. it.' if. 



Ch. 14. A Prayer in feript l6t 

who, by coniiant attention of thought; difcovers the 

greateft opportanities of doing good, and with ardent and 
animated refol&tion breaks through every opposition that 
he may improve thofe opportunities. 

^ 30. This is inch a view pf the "Chriflian temper as 
could conveniently be thrown within fuch narrow limits ; 
and, I hope, it may amhl m:\nj in the great and important 
work of felf-examm ition. Let your g hence an- 

fwer how far you have al I it, and how far 

you dehie it : and, pies here touched 

upon be fixed in your memory and in your heart, that you 
maybe mentioning I God in your daily ad- 

dreifes to the throne of grace, in order to receive from 
him all neceliaryarliitanc2s for bringing them hito practice. 

A Prayer, chiefly in fcripture language, in yvfych the fever- 

al branches of the Qhriflian temper are mqfl li-\f ; i 

enumerated, in the order laid dczon above, 

Bleffed God, I humbly adore thee, as the great * Father 
of lights, and the giver of every good ;nid every perfect 
gift.' (x) From thee, therefore, I feek every bleiling, 
efpecially thofe which may lead me to thyfelf, and 
prepare me for the eternal enjoyment of thee. I adore 
thee as * the God who fearches the heart, and tries the 
reins of the children of men.' (y) Search me, O God, and 
know my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts : fee if 
there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way 
everlafcing.'.( z ; ' May I know what manner cfipirit I 
am of/ ("a) and he preserved from miitaking, where the 
error might be infinitely fatal ! 

May I, O Lord, * be renewed in the fpirit of my 
mind 1' (b) * A new heart do thou give me, and anew 
fpirit do thou put within me !' (c) Make me partaker of a 
divine nature ;' d _ and ' as he, who hath called me, is ho- 
ly, may I be holy in all manner of converfation !' (e) 
May * the fame mind be in me which was alio in Chrifl 
Jems ;' 1 f and may I ' fo walk even as he walked !' (g) De- 
liver me from being carnally minded, which is death ;" 

and 
(x) James i. 17. (y) Jer. xvii. 10. (z) Pfal. exxxix. 23. 24. 
(a) Luke ix. 55. (b) Eph. iv. 23. (c) Ezek. xxxvi. 26. 
(d, 2 Pet. i. 4. (e) iPet. i. 15. (fj Phil. ii. 5. (g) 1 John U.J& 



1 66 relating to the Chnjllan temper. Ch. 14.. 

and make me ' fpiritually minded, fince that is life and 
peace L- h^ And may I, while I pals through this world 
of fenfe, ' walk by faith and not by fight j* v i) and be 
' ftrong in faith, giving glory to God k i' 

May * thy grace/ O Lord, * which hath appeared un- 
to all men,' and appeared to me with fuch glorious evi- 
dence and luftre, ' effectually teach me to deny ungodli- 
nefs and worldly lufts, and to live foberly, righteoufly, 
and godly 1 !' * Work in mine heart that godlinefs which 
is profitable unto all things j? m) and teach me by the in- 
fluences of thy bleifed Spirit, to ' love thee, the Lord my 
God, with all my heart, and with all my foul, and with all 
my mind, and with all my ftrength ?* 1 n i May I * yield my- 
felf unto thee as alive from the dead ;' (o) and ' prefer) t my 
body a living facrifice, holy and acceptable in thy fight, 
which is my rood reafonable fervice.' (p) May I enter- 
tain the mod faithful and affectionate regards to the blef- 
fed Jems, thine incarnate Son, ' the brightnefs of thy glo- 
ry, & the exprefs image of thy perfon !' ( qj Tho' I have not 
feen him, may I love him ; and in * him, tho' now I fee him 
not, yet believing, may I rejoice with joy unfpeakable and 
full of glory :• j r And may * the life which I live in the fiefh,' 
be daily < by the faith of the Son of God !''[s j May I 'be fill- 
ed with the Spirit j? ft) and may I be led by it ;' (u^ and fo 
may it be evident to others, and efpecially to my own foul, 
that I am a child of God, and an heir of glory. May I 
' not receive the fpirit of bondage unto fear, but the fpirit 
of adoption, whereby I may be enabled to cry, Abba, Fa- 
ther P ix May he work in me as ' the fpirit of love, and of 
power, and of a found mind.' (y) that fo I may ' add to- 
my faith virtue !' . z May I ? be flrong and very coura- 
geous,* [ a. and quit myfelf' like a man,' ib) and like a 
Chriftian, in the work to which I am called, and in that 
warfare which I had in view when I lifted under the 
banner of the great Captain of my falvation ! 

Teach 
(h) Rom. viii. 6. (i) 2 Cor. v. 7. (k) Rom. iv. 20. 
(1) Tit. ii. 11. 12. (m) 1 Tim. iv. 8. (n) Mark xii. 30. 
(o Rom. vi. 13. (p, Rom. xii. 1. (q Heb. L 3. 
(r)i Pet. i. 8. (s) Gal. ii. 20. it) Ephv. 18. (u # Rom. viii. 14. 
[x] Rom. viii. 15. fy] 2 Tim. i. 7. [zj 2 Pet. i. 5. 
(a) Joflui. 7. [b) i Cor. xvi. 13. 



Ch. 14. A Tray er in fcriplure language 167 

Teach me, O Lord, ferioufly to confider the nature of 
my own foul, and to let a fuitable value upon it ! May I 
' labour, not only,' or chiefly, ' for the meat that perifheth, 
but for that which endureth to eternal life !' c) May I 

* humble myfelf under thy mighty hand,' and be clothed 
with humility :' id decked * with the ornament of a meek 
and quiet fpirit, which, in die fight of God, rs of great 
price !' e; * May I be pure in heart, that I may fee God, ? 
(f ) ' mortifying my members which are on the earth,' g) 
fo that ' if a right eye offend me, I may pluck it out ; 
and if a right hand offend me, I may cut it off:' (h) 

* May I be 'temperate in all things' (\) '-content with 
fuch things as 1 have,' fkj and initructed to be fo in 

* whatfoever ftate I am V (\) May \ patience alfo have 
its perfect, work in me, that I may be' in diat refpecl 

* complete, and wanting nothing !' (m) 

Form me, O Lord, I befeech thee-, to ' a proper temper 
toward my fellow creatures !' May I 'love my neighbor as 
myfelf !' n) and 'whatfoever I would that others mould do 
unto me, may I alfo do the fame unto them !' o ; May 
I ' put on meeknefs,' p) under the greateft injuries and 
provocations ; and, ' if it be potlible, as much as lieth in 
me,' may I ' live peaceably with ail men !' q May, I 
be 'merciful, as my father in heaven is merciful!' [t) 
May I ' fpeak the truth from my heart ;' s j and may I 
'.fpeak it in love ;' ft 1 guarding againf: every inftance of 
a cenforious and malignant diipofition ; and taking care 
not ' to judge' feverely, as I would ' not be judged' (u) 
with a feverity, which thou, Lord, knoweft, and which 
mine own confcience knows, I ihould not be able to rap- 
port I 

" I intreat thee, O Lord, to work in me all thofe qual- 
ifications of dre Chriftian temper, which may render it 
peculiarly acceptable to thee, and may prove ornamental 
to my profeffion in the world. Renew, I befeech thee, 

* a right 

(c) John vi. 14. (d) 1 Pet. v. 5.6. [e] 2 Pet. iii. 4. 
(f. Matt. v. 9. (g) Col. iii. 5. (h Matt. v. 29, 30. 
(i) 1 Cor. ix. 25. ,k Heb. xiii. 5. (lj Phil. iv. 11. 
(m Jam. i. 4. (n. Gal. v. 14. (o % Matt. vii. 12. 
(p Col. iii. 12. [q Rom. xii. 18. (r) Luke vi. 36. 
(*> PfaL xv. 2, (t) Eph. iv. 15* (u; Matt. vii. 1. 



. l6B relating to the Chrijl'ian temper. Ch. ij, 

* a right fpirit -within me' ;' x) make me * an Israelite in- 
deed, in whom there is no allowed guile !' y And while 
I feaft on * Chriit, as my pa-Hover facrihced for me,' may 
I-' keep the feaft with the unleavened bread of nncerity 
and truth ! z Make me, I befeech thee, CTthou almigh- 
ty and unchangeable God, ' fleadfafl and immoveable, 
always abounding in thy work, as knowing that my la- 
bour mall not be' finally < in vain V a May * my heart 
be tender,' b eailly irrprelied with thy word and provi- 
dences,' touched with an affectionate concern for thy glo- 
ry, and fenfible of every impulfe of thy fpirit ! May I be 
t zealous for my God,' c with 'a zeal, according to 
knowledge' d and * charity ;' e and teach me in thy 
fervice, to join ' the wifdom of the ferpent,' (fj with the 
boldnefs of the lion, and ' the innocence of the dove !' 
Thus render me, by thy grace, a mining image of my 
dear Redeemer ; and at length bring me to wear the bright 
refemblance of his holinefs and his glory in that world 
where he dwells ; that I may afcribe everlafting honours 
to him, and to thee, O thou Father of mercies, whole in- 
able gift he is, and to thine holy fpirit, through whofe 
gracious influences I would humbly hop?, I may call 
thee, my Father, and Jefus my Saviour ! Amen. 
(x rial. li. ro. iy ; John i. 47. [z) 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. 
fa' 1 Cor.xv. 58. ;b 2 Kings xxih 19. c. Numb. xxv. 13. 
(d: Rom. x. 2. (e) 1 Cor. xvi. 14. (f) Matt. x. 10. 



^3s> 



CHAP. XV. 

THE READER REMINDED HOW MUCH HE NEEDS THE AS- 
SISTANCE OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD, TO FORM HIM TO 
THE TEMPER ASCRISED ABOVE,' AND WHAT EN- 
COURAGEMENT HE HAS TO EXPECT IT. 

Forward f evolutions may prove ineffectual. §. I. Tei religion is 
not to he given up in defp&ir, but divine grace fevght § 2. A 
general view of its reality and wce/fity, from reafen, § 3. and 

Scripture. 



Cli. 15. How 'rve are to feek the chriftian temper. t$d 

Scripture, § 4. The Spirit to he fought as the Spirit of Chrijl 
§ 5 ; and in that view, the great Jirength of the foul, § 6. 
The encouragement there is to hope j 'or the communication ofiu 
§ 7. A concluding exhortation to pray for it. § 8. ^/*^/ tf« 

■humble addrefs to God purfuant to that exhortation. 

J '•■ T 

I HAVE now laid before you a plan of that tem- 
per and char after which the gofpel requires, and, which, 
if you are a true Chriftian, you will defire and purfue* 
Surely there is in the very defcription of it, fcmething 
which muft powerfully ftrike every mind, which has any 
taite for what is truly beautiful and excellent. And I 
•queftion not, but you, my dear reader, will feel fome im~ 
preffion of it upon your heart. You will immediately 
form fome lively purpofe of endeavouring after it ; and 
perhaps you may imagine you mail certainly and quickly 
-attain to it. You fee how reafonable it is, and what de- 
firable confequences neceflarily attend it, and the afpe£ 
which it bears on your prefent enjoyment, and your fu«= 
ture happinefs ; and therefore are determined you will 
■9.R accordingly. But give me leave ferioufly to remind 
you how many there have been, (would to God that fever- 
al of die inftances had not happened within the compafs 
of my own perfonal obfervation !) 'whofe goodnefs hath 
been like a morning cloud, ' and the early dew, which 
ibon paneth away.' (a — There is not room indeed abfo- 
lutely to apply the words of Jofhua, taken in the mod 
rigorous fenfe, when he faid to Ifrael, (that he might 
humble their too hafty and fanguine resolutions, * You 
•cannot ferve the Lord.' (b) But I will venture to fay, yon 
cannot eafily do it. Alas ! you know not the difficulties 
you have to break through, you know not the temptations, 
which fatan will throw in your way ; you know not hovr 
importunate your vain and fmful companions will be to 
draw you back into the fnare you may attempt to break ; 
and above all, you know not the fubtile artifices which 
your own corruptions will practife upon, in order to reco- 
ver their dominion over you. You think the views yo& 
now have of tilings will be lafting, becaufe the principles 
P and 

(t.) Hof, vt, 4. (b; Joftiua xxir. t g* 



170 No Jlrengtb in ourf elves to obtain if, Ch. I jf. 

and objects to which they refer are fo ; but perhaps to* 
morrow may undeceive you, or rather deceive you anew. 
To-morrow may prefent fome trifle in a new drefs, which 
ihall amufe you into a forgetfulnef s of all this ; nay, per- 
liaps, before you lie down on your bed, the impre'ffions 
you now feel may wear on . The corrupt de flies of your 
ewn heart, now perhaps a little charmed down, and lying 
as it were dead, may fpring up again with new violence, 
as if they had flept only to recruit their vigour ; and if yotr 
are not Supported by abetter ftrength than your own, this 
llruggle for liberty will only make your future chains ths 
heavier, the more ihameful, and the more fatal. 

§ 2. What then is to be done ? is the convinced finner 
to lie down in defpair ? to fay, * I am a helplefs cap- 
tive, and by exerting myfelf with violence may break 
my limbs fooner than my bonds, and increafe the evil 
I would remove ?' God forbid ! You cannot, I am 
perfuaded, be fo little acquainted with Chriftianity as 
not to know, that the doclrine of divine afliftance bear* 
a very confiderable part in it. You have often, I doubt 
not, read of ' the law of the Spirit of life in Chrifl 
Jefus, as making us free from the law of fin and death ;* 
(c ) and have been told that * through the Spirit 
we mortify the deeds of the body [d}s 9 you have read of 
* doing all things through Chrifl who ftrengtheneth us 
(e ,:' whofe * grace is fufficient for us, and whofe ftrength 
is made perfect through weaknefs (£):' permit me, there- 
fore, now to call down your attention to this, as a truth of 
the cleared evidence, and the utmofl importance. 

§ 3. Reafon, indeed, as well as the whole tenor of Scrip- 
ture, agrees with this.* The whole created world has a 
necefiary dependence on God : ' from him even the know- 
ledge of the natural things is derived, -g); * and flail in 
them is to be afcribed to him.' [h j Much more loudly 
does fo great and fo excellent a work, as the new forming 
the human mind, befpeak its divine author. When you 
coniider how various the branches of the Chriftian temper 

are 
pc] Pvom. viii. 2, [d] Rom. viii. 13. [ej Phil. iv. 13. 
[£, 2 Cor» xii. 9. [g I Pfal. xciv. 10. [h ] Exod. xxxi. 3— 6. 

* See many oftheje thoughts much more largely illicit ated m 
*\yjiV€nthfefmen on Regeneration « 



Ch. 15. The need we have of divine affiftance. 171 

are, and how contrary many of them alfo are to that tem- 
per which hath prevailed in your heart, and governed 
your life in time paft, you muft really fee divine influences 
as necefTary to produce and nourifh them, as the influences 
of the fun and rain are to call up the variety of plants, and 
flowers, and grain, and fruits, by which the earth is a- 
domed, and our life fupported. You will yet be more fen- 
fible of this, if you reflect on the violent oppofition which 
this happy work muft expect to meet with, of which I 
mail prefently warn you more largely, and which, if you 
have not already experienced, it muft be becaufe you have 
but very lately begun to think of religion. 

§ 4. Accordingly, if you give yourfelf leave to c onfult 
fcripture on this head, ''and if you would live like a 
chriftian, you muft be confulting it every day, and form- 
ing your notions and actions by it,) you will fee, that 
the whole tenor of it teaches that dependence upon God 
which I am now recommending. You will particularly 
fee, that the production of religion in the foul is matter 
of divine promife ; that when it has been effected, fcrip- 
ture afcribes it to a divine agency, and that the increafe 
of grace and piety in the hearts of thofe who are truly 
regenerate, is alfo fpoken of as the work of God, who 
begins and carries it on until the day of Jefus Chrift.' j i | 

§ 5. In confequence of all thefe views, lay it down to 
yourfelf as a mo ft certain principle, that no attempt in rev 
ligion is to be made in your own ftrength. If you forget 
this, and God purpofes finally to fave you, he will humble 
you by repeated difappointments, till he teach you better* 
You will be a{ named of one fcheme and effort, and of an- 
other, till you fettle upon tire true bans. He will alio 
probably mow you, not only in the general that ycur 
ftrength is to be derived from heaven ; but particularly, 
that it is the office of the bleffed Spirit to purify the heart, 
and to invigorate holy refolutions ; and alfo, that in all 
thefe operations he is to be conftdered as the Spirit of 
Chrift, working under his directions, and as a vital com- 
munication from him, under the character of the great 
head of the church, the grand treafurer and difpenfer of 
tfoefe holy and beneficial influences. On which account 

[}} m. i. & 



1*}2 The fplr'it mitft be fought for by the foaL Cfr-. i^» 

It is called the 'fupply of the Spirit of Jefus Chrift,' [_kl 
who is ' exalted at the right hand of the Father, to give 
repentance and remifiion of fins;' [1 ] in * whofe grace 
alone we can be ftrong,' Tm] and of whofe fulnefs we re- 
ceive, even grace for grace.' j nj 

^ 6. Refolve, therefore, ftrenuoufiy for the fervice of 
God, and for the care of jour foal ; but refolve modeftly 
and humbly. * Even the youths {hall faint and be wea- 
iy, and the young men utterly fall ; but they who wait 
on the Lord,' are the peribns who renew their ftrength.. 
£o j When a fcKil is almoft afraid to declare in the pre- 
sence of the Lord, that it will not do this or that which 
has formerly ofFended him ; when it is afraid abfolutely to= 
promife that it will perform this or that duty with vigour 
and constancy ; but only expreifes. its humble and earned 
detire that it may by grace be enabled to avoid the one, 
or purfue the other ; then fo far as my obfervation <y$ 
experience have reached, it is in the belt, way to learn the 
happy art to conquer temptation, and of difcharglng 
duty. 

§ 7. On the other hand, let not your dependence upon 
this Spirit, and your fenfe of your own weaknefs and in- 
f jficiency for any thing Spiritually good without his con* 
ttnued aid, difcourage you from devoting yourfelf to 
Go J, and engaging in a religious life, confidering what* 
abundant reafon you have to hope that thefe gracious in- 
fluences will be communicated to you — The light of na- 
ture, at the fame time that it teaches the need we have 
©f help from God in a virtuous courfe, may lead us to. 
conclude, that fo benevolent a being, who beftows en the 
riioft unworthy and carelefs part of mankind fo many blef- 
fings, will take a peculiar pleafure in communicating to 
fuch as humbly aik them, thofe gracious afiiitances whicl* 
may form their deathleis fouls into his own reiemblance, 
and fit them for that happinefs to which their rational 
nature is fuited, and for which it was in its firft constitu- 
tion intended.— The word of God will much more abun- 
dantly confirm inch an hope. You there hear divine wif- 
dom crying, even to thofe who had trifled with her in- 

ftructions, 
[k] Phil. i. 19. [1] Acts v. 31. [m.j 2 Tim., ii. 17* 
[n I John i. 16, [0,] Ifa. xl. 309 31* 



€h. 15. A fupplicaiion for divine grece, &c. 173 

ftructions, ' Turn ye at my reproof, and I will pour out 
my fpirit upon you.' (p) You hear the apoiUe fay- 
ing, ' Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that 
* we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every 
time of need.' (q) Yea, you there hear our Lord him-^ 
felf urging, in this fweet and convincing manner, * It 
ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your 
children, how much more mall your heavenly father 
give his holy Spirit unto them that aik him.' (r) 
This gift and promife of the fpirit was given unto Chrilt, 
when he afcended up on high, in truft for all his true dif- 
ciples. God hath « Ihed it abroad upon us in him.' s) 
And, I may add, that the very defire you feel after the far- 
ther communication of the fpirit is the refult of the firft 
fruits of it already given ; fo that you may with peculiar 
propriety interpret it as a fpecial call, to ' open your 
mouth wide that he may fill it.' ft) You thirft, and 
therefore you may cheerfully plead that Jefus hath invit- 
ed you to come unto him and drink : with a promife, not 
only that ' you (hall drink if you come unto him,' but 
alio that ' out of your belly mall flow' as it were * rivers 
of living water,' (u) for the edification and refreihment of 
others. 

§ 8. Go forth, therefore, with humble chearfulnefs, 
to the profecution of all the duties of the chriftian life. 
Go, and profper ' in the ftrength of the Lord, making 
mention of his righteoufnefs, and of his only.' (x) — . 
And, as a token of further communications, may your 
heart be quickened to the moft earneft defires after the 
bleffings I have now been recommending to your purfuit ! 
May you be ftirred up to pour out your foul before God 
in fuch holy breathings as thefe ! and may they be your 
daily language in his gracious prefence ! 

An humble supplication for the influence of divine grace, ta 
form, andflrengthen religion in the foul, 

P « BLESSED 

{p) Prov. i. 23. (q) Heb. iv. 16. (r) Luke xi. 13. 
(sj Tit. iii. 6. (t) Pfalm lxxxi. 10. (u) John vii. 37>3$« 
lx) Pfal, lxxi.iC;. ' 



174 A /'application for divine grace, Ch. 15. 

" BLESSED God I I fmcerely acknowledge before 
thee mine own weaknefs and insufficiency for any thing 
that is fpiritnally good. I have experienced it a thoufand 
times ; and yet my foolifh heart would again truft itfelf ; 
(y) and form refolutions in its own Strength. But let 
this be the firft fruits of thy gracious influence upon it, 
to bring it to an humble diftruft of itfelf, and to a repofe 
en thee ! 
" Abundantly do I rejoice, O Lord, in the kind affurance- 
es which thou giveft me of thy readinefsto beftow liberally 
and richly fo great a benefit. I do, therefore, according 
to thy condefcending invitation, * come with boldnefs to 
the throne of grace, that I may find grace to help in 
every time of need.' (z) I mean not, O Lord God, 
to turn thy grace into wantonnefs or/perverfenefs, (a) or 
to make my weaknefs an excufe for my negligence and 
floth. I confefs thou haft already given me more ftrength 
than I have ufed ; and I charge it upon myfelf, and not 
on thee, that I have not long iince received ftill more a- 
bundant fupplies. I defire for the future to be found di- 
ligent in the ufe of all appointed means ; in the neglect of 
which, I well know, that petitions like thefe would be a 
profane mockery, and might much more probably provoke 
thee to take away what I have, than prevail upon thee to 
impart more ; but firmly refolving to exert myfelf to the 
utmoft, I earneftly intreat the communications of thy 
grace, that I may be enabled to fulfil that refoltition. 

" Befurety, O Lord, unto thy fervant for good?' (b) 
Be pleafed to fhed abroad thy fan&ifying influences on 
my foul, to form me for every duty thou requireft ! Im- 
plant, I befeech thee, every grace and virtue deep in mine 
heart ; and maintain the happy tempsr in the midft of 
thofe affaults, from within and from without, to which I 
am continually liable while I am ftill in this world, and 
carry about with me fo many infirmities! Fill my breaft, 
I befeech thee, with good affections towards thee, my 
God, and towards my fellow creatures ? Remind me al- 
ways of thy prefence : and may I remember, that every 
fecret fentiment of my foul is open to thee ! May I, there* 

fore 
(y) Pr©v. xariii. 26. (z) Heb. iv. 16. (a) Ju4e y. 4. 
(b) Pfal, cxix. 123. 



Oh. 1 6. The difficulties that attend religion. ' 1 7^ 

fore guard againft the finfl: rifmgs of fin, and the firfl ap- 
proaches to it ! and that fatan may not iind room for his 
evil fuggeftjons. I earneilly beg thou, Lord, wouldft fill 
.my heart by thine holy fpirit, and take up thy reiidence 
there ! * Dwell in me, and walk with me :' (c) and let 
my body be the temple of the Holy Ghofl !. (d) 

" May I be fo * joined to Chrift Jems my Lord, as to 
be one fpirit with him/ ie) and feel his invigorating 
influences continually bearing me on, fuperior to every 
temptation, and to every corruption; that, while the 
* youths mall faint and be weary, and the young men 
utterly fall, I may fo wait upon the Lord as to renew my 
ftrength ; (f) and may go on from one degree of faith 
and love, and zeal, and holinefs, to another, till I appear 
perfect before thee in Zion,' (g) to drink in immortal vig- 
our and joy from thee, as the everlaiting fountain of both, 
' through Jefus Chrift my Lord, in whom I have righte- 
ousness and flrength,* .(h) and to whom I defire ever to af- 
cribe the praife of ail mine improvements in both ! Amen.'* 

(c) 2. Cor. vi. 16. (d) 1 Cor. vi. 19. (e) 1 Coi. vi. 17. 
(f) Ifa. xl. 30, 31. (g) Pial. ixxxiv. 7. .h) ifa. xiv. 24. 



CHAP. XVI. 

THE CHRISTIAN CONVERT WARNED OF, AND ANIMATED 
AGAINST THOSEDlSCOURAGEMENTS WHICH HE MUST 
EXPECT TO MEET WITH ENTERING ON A RELIGIOUS 
COURSE. 

Chrijl has injlrucled his difc'iples to expect oppqfition and difficul- 
ties in the way to heaven § 1. Therefore. [_Ij A more 
particular view of them is taken, as arjfing, ( I ) From ihi 
remainders of indwelling fin, $ 2. (2) From the world 
and efpecially from former Jinful companions, § 3 . ( 3 j 
From the temptations and fuggejiitns of fatan, $ 4. [ II ) The 
chriflian is animated and encouraged by various confederations 
to oppofe them ; particularly, by — the pre fence of God, — the 
aids of Chrijl, — the example of others, who though feeble have 
conquered, — and the crozun of glory to be expeSed, §5. 6, 
Therefore, though apoflacy wquUI be infinitely fatal, the chrift 

tiati 



17^ The Soul in danger fr 9m indwelling Sin, Ch. i6» 

tian m:T] pr?fs on cheerfully. § 7. Accordingly the foul \ a* 
larrned by thefe^vicws, is reprefnted as committing itftlf 1% 
God) in the prayer which concludes the chapter. 

§. 1. W ITH the utmoft propriety has our divine maf* 
ter required us to ' drive to enter in at the ftrait gate/ (a) 
thereby asitieems) intimating not only that the paifage 
is narrow, but that it is beiet with enemies ; befet on the 
right hand and on the left with enemies cunning and for- 
midable. And be affured, O reader, that, whatever your 
circumstances in life are, you mull meet and encounter 
them. It will, therefore, be your prudence to furvey them 
attentively in your own reflections, that you may fee what 
you are to expect ; and may confider in what armour it is 
neceffary you mould ba'cloathed, and with what weapons 
you mad: be furniihed to manage the combat. You have 
often heard them marilialled, as it were under three great 
leaders, 012 flfeih, the world, and the devil ; and, accord- 
ing to this diitribution, I would call you to confider the 
forces of each, as fetting themfelves in array againil you. 
O that you may be excited to 4 take toyourfelf the whole 
armour of God,' (bj and to * quit yourfelf like a man* 
( c ) and a chriflian ! 

§2. Let your confcience anfwer whether you do not 
carry about with you a corrupt and a degenerate nature ? 
You will, I doubt not, feel its effects. You will feel, in 
the language of the apofUe, (who fpeaks of it as the cafe 
of chriflians themfelves,) i the fleih lulling againft the 
fpirit, fo that you will not be able/ in all inftances ; 
* to do the things that you would,' (d) You brought 
irregular propenfities into the world along with you ; 3iid 
you have fo often indulged thofe fmful inclinations that 
you have greatly increafed their ftrength ; and you will 
find, in confluence of it, that thefe habits cannet be 
Broken through without great difficulty. You will, no 
doubt, often recollect the ftrong figures in which the pro- 
phet defcribes a cafe like yours ; and you will own that it 
isjuflly reprefented by that ' of an Ethiopian changing 

* his 
(a) Lukexiii, 24. (b) Eph. vi. 13. (c) 1 Cor. xvi 13; 
(d) Gal. v. 17. 



CH. 1 6". and from the Qppofitlon of the 'world. 177 

•' his fkin, and the leopard his fpots.' (e) It is indeed 
poilible that at firft you may find fuch an edge and eager- 
nefs upon your own fpirits, as may lead you to imagine, 
that all oppofition will immediately fall before you ; but, 
alas ! I fear, that in a little time thefe enemies, which 
feemed to be flain at your feet, will revive^ and recover 
their weapons ; and renew the afiault in one form or ano- 
ther. And perhaps your moll painful combats may be 
with fuch as you had thought moil eafy to be vanquiihed ; 
and your greater! danger may arife from fome of thofe e- 
nemiesfrom whom you apprehended the lead ; particular- 
ly, from pride, and from indolence of fpirit ; from a fe- 
cret alienation of heart from God, and from an indii- 
pofitionfor converting with him, through an immoderate 
attachment to things feen and temporal, which may be 
oftentimes exceeding dangerous to your falvation, though 
perhaps they be not abfolutely and univerially prohibited* 
In a thouiand of thefe instances you muii learn to ' deny 
yourfelf, or you cannot be Chriii's difciple.' (f) 

§ 3. You muft alfo lay your account to find great dif- 
ficulties from the world ; from its manners, cuftoms, and 
examples. The things of the world will hinder you one 
way; and the men of the world another. Perhaps you 
may meet with much lefs affirmance in religion than you 
.are now ready to expecl from good men. The prefent 
generation of them is generally fo cautious to avoid every 
thing that locks like orientation, and there feems feme- 
thing fo infupportably dreadful in the charge of enthufi- 
afm, that you will find moft of our Chriitian brethren fin- 
dying to conceal their virtue and their piety much more 
than otfiers ftudv to conceal their vices and their profane- 
neCs. But ivhile, unlefs your Situation befingularly happy, 
you meet with very little aid one way, you will, no doubt, 
find great opposition another^ The enemies of religion 
will be bold litd 6<^ive in their afTaults, while many of its 
friends feem unconcerned 5 and dne finner will probably 
exer>- himfelf more to corrupt you than ten christians to 
fecure and fave you. They, who h ive >nee been your com. 
panionsinfin, will try athoufand artful methods t allure 
you back again to their forfaken foeiety , fome f tin ua, 

perhaps 
(e) Jer. xiji, 23. (f) Matth. xy'u 34. 



178 Satan 'will labour to diflrefs the foul Ch. 16. 

perhaps with an appearance of tender fondnefs ; and many 
more by the almofl irrefiftable art of banter and ridicule, 
thatboafled teft of right and wrong, as it has been wan- 
tonly called, will be tried upon you, perhaps without any 
regard to decency, or even to common humanity. You 
will be derided and infulted by thofe whofe efleem and af- 
fection you naturally deiiie : and may find much more 
propriety than you imagine in the expreffion of the Apof- 
tle, * The trial of cruel mockings,'* (g) which fome fear 
more than either fword or flames. This perfecution of 
tongue you muft expect to go through, and perhaps may 
be branded as a lunatic, for no other caufe than that yon 
now begin to exercife your reafon topurpofe, and will not 
join witli thofe that are deflroying their own fouls in their 
wild career of folly and madnefs. 

§. 4. And it is not at all improbable, that, in the mean 
time, fatan may be doing his utmofl to difcourage and 
diflrefs yoiu He will, no doubt, raife in your imagina- 
tion the raoft tempting idea of the gratifications, the in- 
digencies, and the companions, you are obliged to for- 
fake ; and give you the mod difcouraging and terrifying 
view of the difficulties, feverities, and dangers, which are 
(as he will perfuade you) infeparable from religion. He 
will not fail to reprefent God himfelf, the fountain ofgood- 
nefs and happinefs, an hard mailer, whom it is impoffible 
to pleafe. He will perhaps fill you with the moil diftrefs- 
ful fears, and with cruel and infolent malice glory over 
you as his Have, when he knows you are the Lord's free- 
man. At one time he will (tudy, by his vile fuggeflions, 
to interrupt you in your duties, as if they gave him an ad- 
ditional power over you : at another time he will endea- 
vour to weary you of your devotion, by influencing you to 
prolong it to an immoderate and tedious length, left his 
power fnould be exerted upon you when it ceafes. In 
fhort, this practifed deceiver has artifices, which it would 
require whole volumes to difpiay, with particular cautions 
againfl each. And he will follow you with malicious arts 
and purfuits to the very end of your pilgrimage ; and will 
leave no method unattempted which may be likely to. 
Treaken your hands, and to fadden your heart ; that if, 

through 
(g) Heb, xi. 3$, 



Ch. 1 6". Td has he Jtill enough to encourage him, 1 79 

through the gracious interpofition of God, he cannot pre- 
vent your final happinefs, he may at lead impair your 
peace and your ufefulnefs as you are paffing to it. 

§ 5. This is what the people of God feel ; and what 
you feel in fome degree or other, if you have your lot 
and your portion among them. But, after all, be not 
difcouraged : Chrift is * the captain of your falvation.' 
(h) It is delightful to confider him under this view. 
When we take a furvey of thefe hofts of enemies, we 
may lift up our head amidft them all, and fay, * more 
and greater is he that is with us, than all thofe that 
are againft us.' (i) Truft in the Lord, and you will 
be like Mount Zicn, which cannot be moved, but a« 
bideth for ever.' (k) When your enemies prefs upon 
you, remember you are to fight in theprefence of God. J 
(1) Endeavour therefore to a& a gallant and refclute 
part; endeavour to * refiftthem ftedfaftly in the faith.' 
(m) Remember he can give power to the faint, and 
Mncreafe ftrength to them that have no might.' (n) He 
hath done it in ten thoufand inftances already ; and he 
will do it in ten thoufand more. How many ftriplings 
have conquered their gigantic foes in all their moft for- 
midable armour, when they have gone forth againft 
them, though but (as it were * with a ftaff and a fling, 
in the name of the Lord Qod of Ifrael.' (o) How many 
women and children have trodden down the force of the 
enemy, and * out of weaknefs have been made ftrong.' (p) 

§ 6. Amidft all the oppofition of earth and hell ? look 
upward; and look forward, and you will feel your heart 
animated by the view. Your general is near : he is near 
to aid you ; he is near to reward you. When you feel the 
temptation ~refs the hardeft, think of him who endured 
even the crofs itfelf for your refcue. View the fortitude 
of your divine leader, and endeavour to march on in his 
fteps. Hearken to his voice, for he proclaims it aloud, 
* behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me : (q) 
be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a 

crown 
(h) Heb. n. io. (i) 2 Kings vi. 16 (k) Pfal. exxv. 2. 
(1) Zech. x. 5. (m) 1 Pet. y. 9. (n) Ifa. xl. 29* 
(oj 1 yam. xvii. 40. 4$. {$) Heb. xi. 34. (q) Rev. xxii. 12, 



I So The foul armed by thefe views, &c. Ch. i5» 

crown of life." (r) And, Oh how bright will it fhine ! 
and how long will itsluftre lad ! when the gems that a* 
dorn the crowns of monarchs, & pafs (inftructive thought) 
from one royal head to another through fucceeding cen- 
turies, are melted down in the laft flame, it is, " a crown 
of glory which fadeth not away,' (s) 

§ 7. It is indeed true, that * men as turn afide to 
crooked paths will be led forth with the workers of ini- 
quity, 7 (t) to that terrible execution, which the di- 
vine juftice is preparing for them ; and that it would have 
been * better for them not to have known the way of 
righteoufnefs, than after having known it to turn afide 
from the holy commandment. ' (uj But I would, by 
divine grace, < hope better things of yen.' (x; And I 
make it my hearty prayer for you, my reader, that you 
may be ' kept by the mighty power of God,' kept as in 
a garrifon, on all fides fortified in the fecureil manner, 
* through faith unto falvation.' (y) 

The soul, alarmed by afenfe of ihefe difficulties y comrmttwgii* 
f elf to divine proreclion. 

ei BLESSED God, it is to thine almighty power that 
I flee. Behold me furrounded with difficulties and 
dangers, and tlretch out thine omnipotent arm to fave 
me, * Oh thou that faveft by, thy right hand them that 
put their trull in thee, from them that rife up againft 
them!' (z) This day do I folemnly put myfelf under 
thy protection ; exert thy power in my favour, and per- 
mit me to * make the fliadow of thy wings my refuge !* 
(a) Let thy grace be fufficient for me, and thy 
ftrength * be made perfect in my weaknefs !' [b ' I dare 
net fay, * I will never foriake thee : I will never deny 
thee :' (c) but I hope I can truly fay, O Lord, I would 
not do it ; and that* according to my prefent apprehenfion 
and purpofe, death would appear to me much lefs terrible 
than in any wilful and deliberate initance to offend thee. 

O root 

(r) Pvev. ii. 10. (s) 1 Pet. V. 4. (t; Pfalm exxv. 5. 

[ u 2 Pet. ii. 21. [x Iieb. vi. 9. fy j 1 Fet. ii. 5. 

[z] Pial, xvii. 7. [a] PfaL lvii, 1. (b L 2 Cor, *ii. £,. 

[jcJ Mark *iv. 31. 



Ch. 1 6. The foul alarmed ly f/jefe views* Sec. iSl 

O root out thofe corruptions from my heart, which in an 
hour of preffing temptation might incline me to view 
things in a different light, and fo might betray me into 
the hand of J:he enemy ! ftrengthen my faith, O Lord, 
and encourage my hope \ infpire me with an heroic refo- 
lution in oppofmg every thing that lies in my way to 
heaven ; and let me fet my face like a flint, [d"j againft 
all the affaults of earth and hell ! *■ If iinne-rs intice me 
let me not confent : (e) 'if they infult me.' let me not re- 
gard it ; 'if they threaten me,' let me not fear ! rather may a 
holy and ardent, yet prudent and well governed zeal, take 
occafionfromthatmalignity of heart which they difcover, 
to attempt their conviction and reformation ! At leaft, let 
me never be afhamed to plead thy caufe againft the moM: 
profane deriders of religion 1 make me to hear joy and 
gladneis in my foul ; and I will endeavour to 'tea/rh tranf- 
greifors thy ways, that fmners may be converted unto thee ! ' 
(f, Yea, Lord, while my fears continue, though I ihould 
apprehend myfeif condemned, I am condemned fo right- 
eoufly for my own folly, that I would be thine advoc ate 
though againft myfeif. 

" Keep me, oh Lord, now, and all times ! never let me 
think, whatever age or Ration I attain, that I am ftrong 
enough to maintain the combat without thee ! nor let me 
imagine myfeif, even in this infancy of religion in my 
foul, fo weak, that thou canft not fupport me ! where- 
ver thou leadeft me, there let me follow : and whatever 
ftation thou appofnteft me, there let me labour ; there 
let me maintain the holy war againft all the enemies of 
my falvation, and rather fall in it, than bafely abandon it ! 

" And thou, ; , oh glorious Redeemer, the captain of 
my falvation, the great author and finifher of my faith, 
(g) when I am in danger of denying thee, as Peter did, 
look upon me with that mixture of majefty and tender- 
nefs, (h) which may either fee u re me from falling, or may 
fpeedily recover me to God and my duty again ! And 
teach me to take occafion, even from my mifcarriages, to 
humble myfeif more deeply for all that has been amus, 
and to redouble my future diligence and caution ! Amen." 

Q Chan. 

(d) Ifai. 1. 7. (e) Prov. i. io. (f; Pfal. li. 8/ 13, 
(g) Heb. xii, 2. (h) Luke xxii. 6i. 



2 $2 The foul is urged to furrender itfelf, &c. Ch. 17 

CHAP. XVII. 

the christian urged to, and assisted in an ex- 
press act of self dedication to the service 
of God; 

The advantages offuch a furrender are briefly fuggefttd. §v'f. ad- 
vices for the manner of doing it ; that it may be deliberate, cheer- 
ful, entire, and perpetual ; § ; . 2, 3, 4. and that it be expref- 
ftd with fame ajfetling ■■ folemnity, ^. 5. u4 written infnnnent 
to he figned and declared before God at fame fafon f extra- 
ordinary devotion, propofed. §. 6, 7. The chapter concludes 
with a fpecimen offuch an inftrument, together with an ab- 
Jlracl of it, to be ufed with proper and requijite alterations i 

§. I. AS I would hope, that notwith (landing all. the 
-*■ ■*- views of opposition which do or may arife, yet 
in confideration of thofe noble fupports and motives which 
have been mentioned in the two preceding chapters, you 
are heartily determined for the fervice of God, I would 
now urge you to make a folemn furrender of yourfelf un- 
to it. Do not only form inch a purpoie in your heart, 
but exprefsly declare it in the divine prefence. Such fo- 
lemnity in the manner of doing it is certainly very reafon- 
able in the nature of things : and furely it is highly expe- 
dient, for binding to the Lord fuch a treacherous heart 
as we know our own to be. It will be pleafant to reflect 
upon it, as done at fuch and fuch a time, with fuch and 
fuch circumiiances of place and method, which may ferve 
to ftrike the memory and the confeience. The fenfe of 
the vows of God which are upon you will Pirengthen you 
in an hour of temptation ; and thereccllecncn may alio 
encourage your humble boldnefs andfreedonrm applying 
to him, under the charafter and relation of " your cov- 
enant God and father," as future exigencies may require. 
§ 2. Do it therefore, but do it deliberately. Confider 
whatitisthatyouare to do,and confider how reafcnableit is 
that it mould be done, and done cordially and cheerfully ; 
* not by conitraint, but willingly.' (al for, in this fenfe 
and in every other, '. God loves a cheerful giver.' [h\ 

Now, 
[a] 1 Pet, v. 2.. [bl 2 Cor. ix. 7. 



Ch. .17. ft. may be expedient to do it in writing. 183 

.£Jow, furely tjiere is nothing we inould do with greater 
cbeerfulnefs, or more cordial confent, than making fuch 
a furrender of ourielvesto the Lord; to the God who 
created us, who broughtus into this pleafant and well fur- 
niihed world, who Supported as in our tender infancy, who 
guarded us in the iheughtieisdays of childhood and youth, 
who has hitherto continually helped, fuftained, and- pre- 
served us. .Nothing can be more reafonable. than that' we 
mould acknowledge him as our rightful owner and our 
Sovereign ruler ; than that we ihould devote ourfeives to 
him as our mod gracious benefactor, and feek him as our 
fupreme felicity. Nothing can be more apparently equit- 
able than that we, the product of his power, and the price 
of his fon's blood, ihould be his, and his forever. If 
you fee the matter in its juft view, it will be the grief of 
your foul that you have ever alienated yourfelf from the 
bleifjd God and his fervice ; fo far will you be from warn- 
ing to continue in that ftate of alienation another year, or 
another day. You will rejoice to bring back to him his 
revolted creature ; and as you have in times pad " yielded 
your members as instruments of unrighteoufnefs unto 
fin,'' you will delight to yield yourfelves unto God, as 
alive from the dead/ and to employ ' your members as 
inftruments of righteoufnefs unto God.' [c^ ' 

§ 3. The furrendsr will alfo be as entire as it is cheer- 
ful and immediate. All you are, and all you have, and 
all you can do, your time, your poifefllons, your influence 
over others, will be devoted to feimj that for the furure 
it may be employed entirely for him, and to his glory. 
You will defire to keep back nothing from him ; but will 
feriouily judge that you are then in the trued and nobleil 
fenfe your own when you are mod entirely his. You are 
alfo, on this great occafion, to refign all that you have to 
the difpofal of his wife and gracious providence ;not only 
owning his pow r er,but confenting to his undoubted right, 
to do what he pleafes with you, and ail that he has given 
you ; and declaring an hearty approbation of all that he 
has done, and of all that he may farther do. 

. £ 4. Once more, let me remind you, that this furren- 
4er mull be perpetual. You muft give yourfelf up to 

God, 
[c] Rom. vi. 13. 



1.84 An wjlrument propofed^ as proper for it. Ch. i^. 

God in fuch a manner, as never more to pretend to be 
your own : for the rights of God are, like'his nature, eter- 
nal ana immutable : and with regard to his rational 
creatures, are " the fame yefterday, to day, and forever." 

$5.1 would further advife and urge, that this dedica- 
tion may be made with all pofxible folemnity. Do it in 
exprefs words. And perhaps it may be in many cafes moil 
expedient, as many pious divines have recommended, to 
do it in writing. Set your hand and feal to it. That on 
fuch a day of inch a month and year, and at fuch a place, 
en full confideration and ferious reflection, you came to 
this happy, refolution, ' that whatever others might do, 
you would ferve the Lord.' [a] 

§ 6. Such an inilrument you may, if youpleafe, draw 
up for yourfelf ; or if you rather chufe to have it drawn 
up to your hand, you may find fomething of this nature 
below, in which you may eauly make fuch alterations as 
mail iuit your circumif.ances, where there is any thing pe- 
culiar in them. But whatever you ufe, weigh it well, 
meditate attentively upon it, that you may * not be ralh 
with your mouth to utter any thing before God.' [ej 
And when you determine to execute this inftrument, let 
this tranfaction be attended with fome more than ordina- 
ry religious retirement. Make it, if you conveniently 
can, a day of fecret failing and prayer ; and when your 
heart is prepared with a becoming awe of the divine ma- 
jefty, with an humble Confidence in his goodnefs, and an 
earneft defireof his favour, then prefent yourfelf on your 
knees«before God, and read it over deliberately and fo- 
lemnly ? and when you have figned it, lay it by in fome 
fecure place, where you may review it whenever you 
pleafe ; and make it a rule with yourfelf to review it, if 
poffible, at cert?un feafons of the' year, that you may keep 
up the remembrance of it. 

\ 7, At leaft, take this courfe 'till you fee 5*our way 
clear to the table of the Lord, where you are to renew 
the fame covenant, and to feal i£ with more affecting fo- 
lemn ities. And God grant that you may be enabled to 
keep it, and, in the whole of your converfatfon, to walk 
according to it ! May it be an anchor to your foul in eve- 
ry temptation, and a cordial to it in every affliction ! may 
[d] Joih. xxiv. 15. [e] Ecclef. v. 2. the 



Oh 



A folemn form of f elf dedication, l$§ 



the recollection of it embolden your addreiTes to the throne 
of grace now, and give additional ftrength to your depart* 
ingfpirit, in a confcioufnefs that it is afcendmg to your 
covenant God and father, and to that gracious redeem- 
er, whole power and faithfulnefs will fecurely ' keep what 
you commit to him until that day.' [f] 

An example of J elj "-dedication ; or<> a fokinji form of renenvirg 
our covenant tvith God. 

" ETERNAL and unchangeable Jehovah, thou 
great creator of heaven and earth, and adorable Lord 
of angels and men ! I defire with the deeped humilia- 
tion and abatement of foul, to fall down at this time in 
thine awful prefenoe ; and earneftly pray, that thou wilt 
penetrate my very heart with afuitable fenfe of thine un- 
utterable and inconceivable glories ! 

" Trembling may juftly take hold upon me,' [g] when 
I a fmful worm, prefume to lift up my head to thee, 
prefume to appear in thy majeftic prefence on fuch an oc- 
cafion as this. * Who am I, O Lord God, or what is 
my houfe?' [h] what is my nature or defcent, my cha- 
racter and defert, that I mould fpeak of this , and deiire 
that I may be one party in a covenant, where thou* 
" the king of kings, and Loid of lords," art the other ? 
I blulh and am confounded, even to mention it before 
thee. But, O Lord, great as is thy majefty, fo alfo is 
thy mercy. If thou wilt hold converfe with any of thy 
creatures, thy fuperlatively exalted nature muft ftoqp,muu: 
ftoop infinitely low. And I know, that in and through 
Jefus, the fon of thy love, thou condefcendeft to villt 
fmful mortal?, and to allow their approach to thee, and 
their covenant intercourfe with thee ; nay, I know that 
the fcheme and plan is thine own ; and that thou haft gra- 
ciouily fent to propofe it to us ; as none untaught by thee 
would have been able to form it, or inclined to embrace 
it, even when actually propofed. 

" To thee therefore do I now come, invited by the 
name of thy fon, and trufting in his righteoufnefs and 
grace. Laying myfelf at thy feet * with ihame and con- 

q fufion 

[f] 2 Tim. i, 12, lg] Job. |3w. €. [h] 2 Sam. vii. i$* 



1 85 hj rvhlch the covenant may he renewed. Cb. 17. 

fufion of face, and fmiting upon my bread,* I fay, 
with the humble publican, ' God be merciful to me a mi- 
ner !' [i] I acknowledge, O Lord, that I have been 
a great tranfgrefTor. ' My fms have reached unto heaven,' 
[k~j and mine iniquities are lifted up unto the Ikies.' [13 
The irregular propenfities of my corrupted and degener- 
ate nature have, in ten thoufand aggravated initances, 
* wrought to bring forth fruit unto death.' [mj And if 
thou fhouldeft be itric"t to mark mine offences, I mutt be 
filent under a load of guilt, and immediately fink into de- 
ftruftion. But thou hail graciouily called me to return 
unto thee, though I have been ' a wandering fheep, a 
prodigal ion, a backfliding child.' (11) Behold, there- 
fore, O Lord, J come unto thee. I come, convinced not 
only of my fin, but of my folly. I come from my very 
heart afhamed of myfelf, and with an acknowledgement in 
the fmcerity and humility of my foul, that I I have play- 
ed the fool, and have erred exceedingly.' (o) I am 
confounded myfelf at the remembrance 1 of thefe things ; 
but be thou ' merciful to my unrighteoufnefs, and do not 
remember againft me my fins and my tranfgreffions.' (p) 
Permit me, O Lord, to bring back unto thee thole powers 
and faculties which I have ungratefully -and facrilegiouily 
alienated from thy fervice ; and receive, I befeech thee, 
thy poor revolted creature, who is now convinced of thy 
right to him, and defires nothing in the whole world fo 
much as to be thine ! 

" BleiTe J God, it is with the utmoft folemnity that I 
make this furrender of myfelf unto thee. ' Hear, O 
heavens,* and give ear, O earth, I avouch the Lord this 
day<to be my '"God ;' (q) and I avouch and declare my- 
felf this day to be " one of his covenant children, and 
people." Hear, O. thou God of heaven, and record it 
in « the book of thy remembrance,' (r) that henceforth 
I am thine, entirely thine. I would not merely confecrate 
unto thee fome of my powers, or fome of my poffeflions ; 
or give thee a certain proportion of my fervices, or all I 
am capable of for a limited time ; but I would be wholly 

thine, 
(i) Luke xviii. 15. {k) Rev. xvili. 5. ■■(■!) Jer. it. 9, 
(til) Rom. vii. 5. (n) Jer. iii. 22. foj 1 Sam. xxvi 21. 
.p/lieb.viii. ''ii."[q] Deut. wLiy. [r] Mai. --iii. 1$. 



Ch. 17. \n Afolcmn form elf-decticCition T . . I $J 

thine, and thine forever. From this day do I folemnly 
renounce all the 'former lords,' . which have had do- 
minion over me ;' (s) every fin, and every hift ; and bid, 
in thy name, an eternal, defiance to the powers of hell, 
which have moil unjuftly ufurped the empire over my foul, 
and to all the corruptions which their fatal temptations 
have introduced into it. The whole frame of my nature, 
all the faculties- of my mind, and all the members of my 
body, would I prefent before thee this day, -« as a living 
facrifice, holy and acceptable, unto God, which: I know 
to be my molt reasonable fervice.' [t J ' To thee I cdnfe- 
crate all my worldly poiferlions, in thy fervice I defire to 
• fpend all the remainder of my time upon earth, and beg 
thou wouldft inftruet and influence me, fo that, whether 
my abodeaiere be longer or iliorter, every year and month, 
every day and hour, -may-.be ufed in.fuch. a< manner, as 
mall moil effectually promote thine honour, and ■ fubferve 
the fchemes of th^ wife and gracious providence. And I 
earneilly pray, that whatever influence thou given: me -o- 
ver others, in any of the Superior relations' of life in "which 
I may ftand, or in confecpience of any peculiar regard 
which may be paid tome, thou wouldou- give me/iVeugth 
and. courage to exert my-felf to the utmoic for thy glory : 
refolving, not only that I wi]l myfelf do it, f but that ,- all 
others, -id far as I can rationally and properly influence 
them, ' fhallferve the. Lord.' [u] , In this' courfe^O- 
bleiTed God, would I iteadily perieyere to the very end of 
my life; .earneftly praying, tha^every future ijday .of it 
mayfupply the deficiencies., arid conr<e(ft the irregularities 
of the former ; and that;!' may fey divine -grace, be ena- 
bled, not only to hold oh in that happy way, but daily to 
grow more adive in it ! '■ - l - - {. ■ ' _ j 

"..Nor do -I only confecrate all that L ram, and ha<ver 
to thy fervice-; hut I alio moP - h.unibly refign and iubmit 
to thine holy and fdvereigniwU-}* ■ myfelf, and all that I 
can call mine. I leave 5 O Lord,.to thy management and 
direction, all I poifefs, and .all I wi.ih ;and let every: en- 
joyment and every iritereft before thee, to be difpafed 
of as thou ' pleafeft. Continue, , or remove, what -thfcu 
haft given me ; bellow or refute what I imagine I want, 

>< ■ I : . . . as. 
(|) Ifa. x*vj. 13. .(t). Rom, xl'u 1,. (u) Jb(t^i^5* 



v l8S by which the covenant may Be renewed* Ch. I? 

as thou, Lord, mall fee good ! And though- I dare not 
fay I will never repine, yet I hope I may venture to fay 
that I will labour, not only to fubmit, but to acquiefce ; 
not only to bear what thou doeft in thymoft afflictive dif- 
penfations, but to confent to it, and to praife thee for it ; 

f contentedly refolvirig, in all that thou appointed for me, 

* my will into thine, and looking onmyfelf as nothing, and 
on thee, O God, as the great eternal all, whofe word 
ought to determine every thing, and whofe government 
ought to be the joy of the whole rational creation. 

" Ufe me, O Lord, I befeech thee, as the inftrument 
of thy glory, and honour me fo far as, either by doing or 
fuffering what thou (halt appoint, to bring fome revenue 
of praife to thee, and of benefit to the world in which I 
dwell ! And may it pleafe thee, from this day forward, to 
number me among * thy peculiar people, that I may 
be no more a ftranger and foreigner, but a fellow citizen 
with the faints, and of the houfehold of God! r (w) 
Receive, O heavenly father, thy returning prodigal ! 
Wain me in the blood of thy dear fon ; clothe me with 
his perfe<5t righteoufnefs ; and fan&ify me throughout by 
the power of thy fpirit ! deftroy, I befeech thee, more 
and more the power of fin in mine heart ! transform me 
more into thine own image, and faihion me to the refera- 
yance of Jefus, whom henceforward I would acknowledge 
as my teacher an r d facrifice ; my intercefibr and my Lord ? 
Communicate to me, I befeech thee, all needful influences 

■ of thy purifying, thy cheering, and thy comforting fpi- 
rit ; and * lift up that light of thy countenance upon me, 5 
Which will put the fublimeft 'joy and gladnefs into my 
foul !' (x) . *.~* 

" Difpofe my affairs, O God, in a manner which may 
k-moft fubfervient to thy glory, and my own trueft hap- 
pinefsj and when I have done and borne thy will upon 
earth, call me -from hence at what time, and in what man- 
ner thou pleafefl: : only grant, that in my dying moments, 
and in the near profpecls of eternity, I may remember 
thefe my engagements to thee, and may employ my. lateft 
breatlrm thy fervice ! and do thou, Lord, when thoufeeft 

! the agonies of difiblving nature upon me, remember this 
covenant too, even though I mould then be. incapable of 
(w)Eph; ii. 19. (x) Pfalm iv. 6, 7. recollecting 



Ch- 17. S?n abridgement oj '\the preceding 189 

recollecting it ! Look' down, O my heavenl'/ Father, ' with 
fc a pitying eye upon thy languifhing, thy dying child ; place 
thine eveflafting arms underneath me formy'iupport •"; put 
ftreligth and confidence into my departrhgfpirit : andre- 
ceive it to the embraces of thine everlaftmg love ! Wel- 
come it to the abodes i of them that deep in ^efu^/ (y) 
to wait with them till that glorious day, whelTthe lalt of thy 
promifes to thy covenant-people fhall be fulfilled in thei-r 
triumphant reiurrection, and that.*' abundant entrance/ 
whicli' ihall be ' adminiftered to them' into that ' ever- 
lading kingdom,' [z) of which a thou- haft allured' them 
by thy covenant, &, in tlie hope of which, I now lay hold 
on it, defirinq; to live and to die as with mine hand on that 
.hope, 

" And when I am thus numbered among the dead, and 
all the interefts of mortality are over with me ; forever, 
if this folemn memorial inould chance to fall into the 
•hands of any furviving -friends, may it be the means of 
making ferious if rpreffions on their mind ! may they 
read it, not only as my language, but* as their own ; 'and 
learn to "fear the Lord my God, 5 and with me ' \b 
put their truft under the fhadow of his wings" for time 
and for eternity ! And may they alio learn to adore with 
me that grace, wh?ch inclines our hearts to enter into the 
covenant, and condefcends : to admit us into it when fo in- 
cline 1 ; afcribing with me, and with all the nations of the 
redeemed, to the father, the fon, and the holy ghoft, that 
glory, honour and praiie, which isfojuftly' due- to each 
divine perfonfor the part he bears in this i'lluitrious work-} 
Slmen." 

N. B. For the fake of thofe who may think the preceedmg 
form of felf dedication too long to be- tranfcrib'ed, (as it if 
probable many will,) I-hai)c t at ihe'deOre of a much cfleem- 
ed friend , added the following abridgement of itVwmchjhoutd 
by all means be attentively weighed in every clavfc ■lef ore it 
is executed ; and any word or phrofs which may fe -m ii'a~ 
lie io exception., changed^ that the <Uthale heart may- confent 
to it alL 

• *<-• Eternal 
(y) t TheiT. iv. 14. (z) 2 Pet. i. i'U 



•I^a Form of feif dedication,. .•. Ch. X'Jy 

■ << ETC RNA-L and eyer.bleMed ;God ? I aefire to prefent 
myfelf before 'thee with' the deepeft humiliation and abaff -* 
m&nt of ,ioui : i fendble how unworthy fuch a imfiil wprm 
is to appear before the holy majeily of heaven, " the king 
s£ kings, and X^rd. of lord^s,"; and .especially on fuch an 
occaiiqn as this s even to enter into a covenant tranfaction 
with thee. But the fcheine and plan is thine own. Thine 
■ infinity- conde'ceulion ha th ottered it by thy ion, and thy 
grace hath inclined.my heart -to accept of it. 

il I come, therefore, acknowledging myfelf to have 
been a great offender,;; -fixating o,n my breail, and faying 
with theliumble publican, , > s God be merciful to me a fin- 
ner r". I come, invit^e^ , f by the name of thy ion, ancj. 
wholly trufting in his perfect rightecufnefs ; intreating 
that,; for his rake- thou ■ wilt : be merciful to my- .unrighte- 
Gufnefs, and wilt -no, more remember uiyduis. 
.be/eech: thee, thy revoked creature, wno is no f w conwnc- 
: ed of thy right to him, ana deiifes nothing jo much as 
-that he may b::;ihiue ! ; 

. " T his day do I, with the utmoft ' Solemnity, Surrend- 
er myfelf .to thee. Irfenounce all former lords that have 
hai dominion over me ; and I confecrate to thee all that 
P'am, and all that I Have ;_ the -faculties of my mirtdj the 
members of uiry .body, my worldly pHieilionS; my time, 
jand my influence over others ; to, be all tiled entirely for 
^thy- glory, and, refplutefy employed in obedience to thy 
commands,- a& long as- thou continued me in life. : wkh an 
ardent deiire, and •humblerefolution to.continue thine thro* 
all the -endlel^agesi of eternity ; ever* holding myfelf in 
an attentive pofture to obferve the firft intimations of thy 
will, and ready tofpring forward, with zeal and joy, to 
•th'e immediate* execution; of it; * ' 

-j -" To thy direction alfp I refign myfelf, and all I am 
andhave, to be'difpofed of by thee in fuch ; . a manner as 
thou malt in thine infinite wifdom judge mofl: fubfefvient 
•to thepurpofe^ of thy glory. To thee I leave the. manage- 
ment .'of^all eveats,«an.4 £ay without referve, " Not rriy 
wjd, but thine be' c\o^e-ji" ..Rejoicing with a loyal heart 
in thine unlimited government, as what ought to be the 
delight of the whole rational creation. 

" Ufe me, O Lord, I befeech thee, as an inftrument 
.. i A .*& s . .. !i ef 



Gh. 1-8.' Tie foul is called, to church-communion,- ro V 

of thy fer.vi'ce ! Number me among thy peculiar people ! 
Lot me be wafhed in the blood of thy dear foni let me 
be clothed with his Tighteouihefs! let me be fanclified by 
his fpirit ? Transform me more and rnoreinto his image ! 
Impart to^m'e, through him, all needful influences of thy 
purifying, cheering, and comforting fpirit ! And let my 
Hfe be .{pent under thole influences, and in the light of 
thy gracious countenance, as my father and my God ! 
* And when the folemn hour of -death comes, may I re- 
member this thy covenant, well ordered in all' thin'gs 
and fure, as all my falvation and .all my defire,' (a) 
though every other hope and enjoyment is periining ! 
And do thou, O Lord, remember it' too ! /Look down 
with pity, O my heavenly father; On thy languishing 
dying child ? Embrace me in thhte' everlaiiirtg arm's ! 
Put ftrength and confidence into ;my departing' fpiiit ! 
and receive it to the abodes of them' 'that fleep in Jefus, 
peacefully and joyfully to wait the accompKfhment of 
thy great promife to all thy people, even that of a elori- 
ous refurredtion, and of eternal happinefs in thine hea- 
venly prefence ! And if any fuiviving friend mould, 
when I am in the duft, meet wjth this memorial of my fo- 
lemn tranfactions with thee, may he make the en gagement 
his own ; and do thou gracioufly admit him to partake 
in all thebleffingsof thy covenant, through Jefus the great} 
mediator of it : to whom with thee, 'O father, arid thy 
holy fpirit, be everlafting praifes alciibed, bj all the mil- 
lions who are thus faved by thee, end by all thofe other 
ceieftial fpirits, in whofe work and blefiednefs, thou ihalt 
call them to Ihare ! Amen" 
id.) 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 



C H A P. XVtlL 

Of entering into church-communion, by an attendance 
upon the Lord's Supper. 

The redder, being already fuppofed to have entered info covenant 
with God* § f. is urged publicly to Jesl that engagement at 

the 



Jr£2 The ■ covenant jhou%d bepubliclly * f ceded, Ch. iS. 

the table of the Larch h 2* (i) From a view of 'the ends 
for which, that, ordinance yaasinflitided, .^ 3. whence its uj £~ 
juhicfs isftrongly inferred. § 4. y//W, ( 2 ) .From /i><° authori- 
ty of Cbrfds appolntincpt ; which is folemnly prejfsd on the 
confcience. § 5*.- Objections jr 0,11 apprehcrjions of an unft- 
ncfs.^:6, IVeahnefs of grace, &c. briefly anfwered. § J* 
jit leaf, ft ions though fidnffs en thisfubjecl is abfdutely irffi- 
edupon. § 8. The chapter is. clofed with a prayer for one who 
defires to attend, yet finds himfelf preffed, with remaining 
doubts, 

§ 1. T HOPE this chapter will find you, by a molt ex- 
"■*■ prefs confent, become one of God's covenant 
people, folemnly and cordially devoted to his fervice : and 
it is my hearty prayer, that the covenant you have made 
on earth may be ratified in heaven. 33ut for your farther 
mftruction and edification, give me leave to remind you, 
that our. Lord Jefus Chrifthath appointed a peculiar mari- 
ner of expreffing our regard to him, and of folemnly yq- 
newing our covenant with -him, which, though it does not 
forbid any other proper way of doing it, muft by no means- 
be let afide or neglected for any human methods, how pru- 
dent and expedient foever they may appear to us. 

§ 2. Our Lord has wifely ordained, that the advan- 
tages of fociety mould be brought into religion ; and as, 
*t>y his command, profefllng chriftians aifemble together 
for other acts of public worihip, fo he has been pleafed to 
inftitute a focial ordinance, in which a whole aiTembly of 
them is to come to his table, and there to eat the fame 
bread, and drink the fame cup. And this they are to do 
as a token of their affectionate remembrance of his dying 
love, of their folemn furrender of themfelves to God, and 
of their fmcere love to one another, and to all their fellow 
Chriftians. 

§ 3. That thefe are indeed the great ends of the Lord's 
fupper, I mall not now ftay to argue at large — You need 
onW read what the apoftle Paul has written in the tenth 
ana eleventh chapters of his firft epiftle to the Corinthi- 
ans -to convince you fully of this. He there expiefdy 
tells us, that our Lord commanded the bread to be eaten, 
ar>£ the wine tobe drank in remembrance pf him, fa) or as 
(a) 1 Cor. xi. 2.^ 25. a 



Ch. 1 8. The doing it is prejfed vpon the conference ^ *93 

a commemoration or memorial of him ; fo that as often 
as we attend this inftitution, 4 we fnew forth our Lord's 
death, which we are to do even until he come.' (b) And 
it is particularly aliened, that * the cup is the New Tef- 
tament in his blood ;' (c) that is, it is a feal of that cove- 
nant which was ratified by his blood. Now it is evident, 
that in confequence of this, we are to approach it with a 
view to that covenant, deiiring its blefTIngs, and refolving 
.by divine grace to comply with its demands. On the 
whole, therefore, as the Apoflle fpeaks, we have 'com- 
munion in the body, and the blood of Chrift,' (d) aad 
partaking of his table and of his cup, we converie with 
Chrift, a»d join ourfelves to him as his people ; as the 
heathens in their idolatrous rites, had communion with 
their deities, and joined themfelves to them ; and the 
Jews by eating their facrifices, converfed with Jehovah, 
and joined themfelves to him. He farther reminds them, 
that though many, they were ' one bread and one body> 
being all partakers of that one bread,' (e) and being 
' all made to drink into one fpirit ;' (f) that is, meeting 
together as if they were but one family, and joining in the 
commemoration of that one blood which was their com- 
mon ranfom, and of the Lord Jefus their common head. 
Now it is evident, all thefe reafonings are equally applica- 
ble to Chriftians in fucceeding ages. Permit me there- 
fore, by the authority of our divine matter, to prefs upon 
you the obfervation of this precept. 

<§. 4. And let me alio urge it, from the apparent ten- 
dency which it has to promote your trueft advantage. 
You are fetting out in the Chriftian life ; and I have re- 
minded you at large, of the oppofition you muft expect to 
meet with in it. It is the love of Chrift which muft ani- 
mate you to breakthrough all. What then can be more 
defirable, than to bear about with you a lively fenfe of 
it ? and what can awaken that fenfe more, than the con- 
templation of his death as there reprefented ? Who can 
behold the bread broken, and the wine poured out, i\rA 
not reflect, how the body of the blelied Jefus was even 
torn m pieces by his fufferings, and his facred blood 

R poured 

(b) ver, 26. (c) ver. 25. (d) 2 Cor. x. 16. (e) 1 Cor. 
*. 17.. (f) 1 Cor. xii. 13. 






194- and the cbjeBions to it briefly anfauered* Ch. 1 8. 

poured forth like water on the ground ? Who can think 
of the heart rending agonies of the ion of God, as the 
price of our redemption and falvation, and not feel his 
foul melted with tendernefs, and inflamed with grateful 
affection ? What an exalted view doth it give us of the 
bleilings of the gofpel-covenant, when we confider it as 
* eftabiilhed in the blood of God's only begotten fon ?' 
And when we make our approach to God as our heaven- 
ly father, and give up ourfelves to his fervice in this fol- 
emn manner, what an awful tendency has it, to fix the 
conviction, that * we are not our own, being bought witii 
fuch a price V (g) What a tendency has it, to guard us 
againft every temptation to thofe fns which we have ib 
folemnly renounced, and to engage our fidelity to him to 
whom we have bound our fouls as with an oath ? Well 
may * our hearts be knit together in mutual love,' (h) 
v hen we confider ourfelves as * one in Chrift :' (i) Kis 
blood becomes the cement of the fociety, joins us in fpirit, 
not only to each ether, but c to all that in every place call 
upon the name of Jefus Chrift our Lord, both theirs and 
curs :' (k) And we anticipate, in pleafmg hope, that 
blelied day, when the aflembly mail be complete, and we 
fhali ail « be forever with the Lord.' (1) Well may thefe 
views engage us to ' deny ourfelves, and to take up our 
crois to follow our crucified mafter :' (m) Well may 
they engage us to do our utmoft, by prayer and all ether 
faitable endeavours, to ferve his followers and his friends ; 
to ferve thofe, ( whom he hath purchafed with his bleed, 
and who are to be his aifociates, and ours, in the glories 
of an happy immortality* 

§. 5. It is alfo the exprefs inftitution and command of 
ounbleifed Redeemer, that the members of fuch locieties 
mould be tenderly felicitous for the fpiritual welfare of 
eacAotherj And that, on the whole, his churches may 
be kept pure and holy, that they ihould ' withdraw them- 
felyeVrroi brother that walketh diiorderly ;' (n) 

tfeat they ihould ' mark fuch as caufe offences or fcan- 
dals arnongil them, contrary to the doctrine which they 

have 
(g 1 Cor. vl 19, 20. K Col. ii. 2. i.i Gal. iii. 28, 
( k j 1 C or. L 2. (1; 1 Theif. iv. 1 7. (m) Mat. &vi 240 
(n)l Thc;i; Hi. 6. 



Ch. 1 8. The doing it is prejfcd upon the confdence, 8cc. 195 

have learned, and avoid them;' (p) that 'if any obey 
not the word of Chrift by his apoftles, they fhould have 
no fellowlhip or communion with fuch, that they maybe 
af named f (p) that they mould not eat with fuch, as are 
notorioufly irregular in their behaviour, but on the con- 
trary mould ' put away from among themfelves fuch 
wicked perfons.' (q) It is evident therefore, that the in- 
ftitution of fuch focieties is greatly for the honor of Chrif- 
tianity, and for the advantage of its particular profefTors. 
And consequently, every confideration of obedience to 
our common Lord, and of prudent regard to our own 
benefit and that of our brethren, will require, that thofe , 
who love our Lord Jefus Chrift in iincerity, ihould enter 
into them, and alienable among them in thefe their moll 
folemn and peculiar acts of communion at his table. 

§. 6. I intreat you therefore, and, if I may prefume 
to fay it, in his name and by his authority I charge it on 
your confcience, that this precept of cur dying Lord go 
not, as it were, for nothing with you ; but that, if you in- 
deed love him, you keep this, as well as the reft of his 
commandments.— I know, you may be ready to form 
objections. I have elfewhere debated many of the chief 
of them at large, and I hope, not without fome good ef- 
fect.* The great queftion is that, which relates to your 
being prepared for a worthy attendance : And in con- 
junction with what has been faid before, I think that 
may be brought to a very fhort iffue. Have you, fo far 
as you know your own heart, been fmcere in that delib- 
erate furrender of yourfelf to God through Chrift, which 
I recommended in the former chapter ? If you have, 
whether it were with, or without, the particular form or 
manner of doing it there recommended, you have cer- 
tainly taken hold of the covenant, and therefore have a 
right to the leal of it. And there is not, and cannot be, 
any other view of the ordinance, in which you can have 
any farther objection to it. If you defire to remember 
Chrift's death, if you defire to renew the dedication of 
yourfelf to God through him, if you would lift yourfelf 
among his people, if you would love them and do them 

good 
(o) Rom. xvi. 17. (p^ 2 TheiT. iii. 14. (q) 1 Cor. v, 11, j^ 
* -See the fourth of my Sermons to young perfons. 



196 Oljeftions anfwered, Sec. Ch. (& 

good according to your ability, and, on the whole, would 
not allow yourfelf in the practice of any one known fin, 
or in the omiffion of one known duty, then I will venture 
confidently to fay, not only that you may be welcome to 
the ordinance, but that it was inftituted for fuch as 
yen. 

§. 7. As for other objections, a few words may fuffice 
by way of reply. The weaknefs of the religious princi- 
ple in your icul, if it be really implanted there, is fo far 
from being an argument againft your feeking iuch a meth- 
od to ftrengthen it, that it rather ftrongly enforces the ne- 
ceffity of doing it. — The neglect of this folemnity, by fo 
many that call themfelvesChriftians, mould rather engage 
you fo much the more to diilinguiih your zeal for an in- 
ftituticn, in this lefpecl: fo much flighted and injured.— ►• 
And as for the fears of aggravated guilt in cafe cfapofta.-. 
cy, do not indulge them. This may, by the divine 
blefling, be an effectual remedy againft the evil you fear j 
and it is certain, that after what you mull already have 
known and felt, before you could be brought into your 
prefent fituation, on the fuppofitions I have now been 
making, there can be no room to think of a retreat ; no 
room, even for the wretched hope of being lefs miferable 
than the generality of thofe that have periihed. Your 
fcheme therefore muft be, to make your ialvation as fure, 
and to make it as glorious as poffible : And I know not 
any appointment of our blefled Redeemer, which may 
hive a more comfortable afpect upon that bleffed end, 
tfian this which I am now recommending to you. 

. §. 8. One thing I would at leaft mult upon, and I fee 
not with what face it can be denied. I mean, that you 
mould take this matter into a ferious consideration : That 
you ihould diligently enquire, " whether you have reafon 
in your conference to believe, it is the will of God you 
Ihould now approach to the ordinance, or not :" And 
that you fhouid continue your reflections, your enquiries, 
and your prayers, till you find farther encouragement to 
come, if that encouragement be hitherto wanting. For 
if this be aflured, that a ftate in which you are on the 
whole unfit to approach this ordinance, is a ftate in which 
you are deftitute of the neceifary preparations for death 

and 



Ch. i8. A Prayer for one *who defires to attend, &c. 19^ 

and heaven ; in which therefore, if you would not allow 
yourfelves to number on the brink of deftruction, you 
ought not to reft fo much as one fingle day. 

A Prayer for one, who earneflly defires to approach to the ta- 
ble of the Lord, yet has fome remaining doubts concerning 
his right to that folemn ordinance, 

" BLESSED Lord, I adore thy wife and gracious 
appointments, for the edification of thy church in holinefs 
•and in love. I thank thee, that thou haft commanded 
thy fervants, to form themfelves into focieties ; and I 
adore my gracious iaviour, who hath inftituted, as with 
his dying breath, the holy folemnity of his fupper, to be 
through all ages a memorial of his dying love, and a bond 
of that union which it is his fovereign pleafure that his 
people fhould preferve. I hope, thou, Lord, art witness 
to the fmcerity, with which I defire to give myfelf up to 
thee ; and that I may call thee to record on my foul, that 
if I now hefitate about this particular manner of doing it, 
it is not becaufe I would allow myfelf to break -any of 
thy commands, or to flight any of thy favors. I truft, 
thou knoweft, that my prefent delay arifes only from an 
uncertainty as to my duty, and a fear of profaning holy 
things by an unworthy approach to them. Yet furely, O 
Lord, if thou haft given me a reverence for, thy command, 
a defire of communion with thee, and a willingnefs to de- 
vote myfelf wholly to thyfervice, I may regard it as a to* 
ken for good, that thou art difpofed to receive me, and 
that I am not wholly unqualified for an ordinance, which 
I fo highly honour, and fo earneftly defire. I therefore 
make it my humble requeft unto thee, O Lord, this day* 
that thou wouldft gracioufly be pleafed to inftrucl: me in 
my duty, and to * teach me the way which I mould take ! 
Examine me, O Lord, and prove me ! try my reins and 
my heart!' (r) Is there any fecret fin, to the love and 
practice of which I would indulge ? Is there any of thy 
precepts, in the habitual breach of which I would allow 
myfelf ? I truft, I can appeal to thee as witnefs* that 
there is not. Let me not then wrong mine own foul, by a 

r caufeiefs 

(r) Pfal. xx vi. 2. 



19$ A Prayer for one who deftrzs to attend, &c. .Ch. iB. 

eaufelefs and fmful abfence from thy fac~ed table ! But 
grant, O Lord, I befeech thee, that thy word, thy provi- 
dence, and thy fpirit may fo concur, as to e make my 
way plain before me !' ( s ) Scatter my remaining dcubts, 
if thou feed they have no juft foundation ! Fill me with a 
more allured faith, with a more ardent love ; and plead 
thine own caufe with my heart in fuch a manner, as that 
I may not be able any longer to delay that approach, 
which, if I am thy fervant indeed, is equally my duty 
and my privilege ! In the mean time, grant, that it may 
never be long out of my thoughts : But that I may give 
all diligence, if there be any remaining occafion of doubt, 
to remove it, by a more affectionate concern to avoid 
whatever is difpleafmg to the eyes of thine holinefs, and 
to practife the full extent of my duty ! May the views of 
Chrift crucified be fo familiar to my mind, and may a 
fenfe of his dying love fo powerfully conftrain my foul, 
that my own growing experience may put it out of all 
queftion, that I am one of thofe for whom he intended this 
feaft of love ! 

"And even now, as joined to thy churches in fpirit 
and in love, though not in fo exprefs and intimate a bond 
as I could wifh, would I heartily pray, that thy bleffing 
may be on all thy people : That thou wouldft * feed thine 
heritage, and lift them up forever I' (t) May every 
Chriflian fociety flourifh in knowledge, in holinefs, and in 
love ! May all * thy prielts be clothed with falvation, 
that by their means thy chofen people may be made joy- 
ful !' (u) And may there be a glorious acceffion to thy 
churches every where, of thofe who may fly to them * as 
a cloud, and as doves to their windows.' (w) May * thy 
table, O Lord, be furniftied with guefts ;* (x) and may 
all that * love thy falvation, fay, let the Lord be magni- 
fied, who hath pleafure in the profperity of his fervants P 
(y) And I earneftly pray, that all who profefs to 'have 
received Chriil Jefus the Lord, may be duly careful to 
walk in him ;' (z) and that we may all be preparing for 
the general affembly of the firft-born, and may join in that 

nobler 
(s) Prov. xv. 19. ft) Pfal. xxviii. 9. (u) Pfal. cxxxii. 16. 
|w) Ifai. ix. 8. (x) Matt. xxu. 10. (y) Pfal. xxxv. 27. 

\%) Col a 6. 



Ch. T$. A Prayer for one who defires to attend, &c. 19^ 

nobler and more immediate worfhip, where, all thefe types 
and ihadows ihall be laid afide ; where even thefe memo- 
rials ihall be no longer neceffary, but a living, prefent 
Redeemer ihall be the everlaftingjoy of thofe, who here in 
his abience have delighted to commemorate his death i 
Amen" 

N. B. I purpofed to have added fomething here, con- 
cerning a regular approach to the Lord's table, a proper at- 
tendance upon it, and fuitable reflexions after it, but I find 
this work fwells under my hand, beyond what I at firft ex- 
pedited ; and therefore, as thefe articles have been hand- 
led by fo many valuable writers, I chufe to refer to them, 
and particularly to Dr. Earl's facramental exercifes, and 
Mr. Grove's devotional exercifes relating to the Lord's fupper : 
Books, which I think remarkably excellent in their kind, 
•and which may be had at very eafy rates. Yet for the 
farther affiftance of devout communicants, I have fome 
thoughts of publifhing a fmall volume of facramental medi- 
tations onfeka texts of fcripture, if God fpare me to finifh 
my expojition of the New-Teflament, and fome other pieces, 
which I have now in hand. 



■tf^^rrr-rr-gg^i; 



CHAP. XIX. 

SOME MORE PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS FOR MAINTAINING 

CONTINUAL COMMUNION WITH GOD, OR BEING IN HIS 

FEAR ALL THE DAY LONG. 

A letter to a pious friend on this fuljscl introduced here. §. 1, 
A general plan of directions. §.2. (I) For the beginning of 
the day : §.3. (I.) Lifting up the heart to God at ourfrft 
awakening : ^.4. (2) Setting ourf elves to the fecret devo- 
tions of the morning ; with refpecl to which particular ad- 
vices are given. $.5, — IO. (II.) For the progrefs of the 
day : §. II. Direclions art given concerning) (1) feriouf- 
nefs in devotiog. §. 12. (2) Diligence in bufmefs. §. 13. (3) 

Prudence 



2©o Directions for daily walking with God. Ch. 19. 

Prudence in recreations. §. 14. (4) Olfervation of ' provU 
dences. §. If. (5) Watchfulnefi againji temptations. $.16. 
(6) Depeudance on divine influences. §. 17. (7) Govern- 
ment ef the. thoughts when infolitude. §. 1 8. (8) Manage- 
ment gJ difc our fe in company. §.19. (Ill) For the cone lu* 
Jlon of the day : §. 2©. ( 1) With the fecret devotions of the 
evening. §■. 21. Direclions for f elf -examination at large. §. 
22, 23. (2) Lying down with a proper temper. §.24. 
Conclusion of the letter, §. 25. and of the chapter : §.26. 
With aferious view of death, proper to be taken at theclofe 
of the day. 

§, i. 1 WOULD hope, that Upon ferioiis conficteraticn, 
felf-examination, and prayer, the reader may by this 
time become to a refolution to attend the table of the 
Lord, and to feal his vows there. I will now r fuppofe 
that folemn traniaction to be over, or fome other delib- 
erate act to have palled, by w r hich he has given himfelf 
up to the fervice of God ; and that his concern now is to 
enquire, how he may act according to the vows of God 
which are upon him. Now for his farther afliilance here, 
befides the general view I have already given of the 
ChriiHan temper and character, I will propofe fome 
more particular directions, relating to maintaining that 
devout, fpiritual, and heavenly character, which may, 
in the language of fcripture, be called * a daily walking 
with God, or being in his fear* all the day long.' (a) 
And I know not how I can exprefs the idea and plan 
which I have formed of this in a more clear and diftinct 
manner, than I did in a letter, "which I wrote many years 
ago,* to a young perfon of eminent piety, with whom I 
had then an intimate friendihip : and who, to the great 
grief of all that knew him, died a few months after he re- 
ceived it. Y et I hope he lived long enough to reduce the 
directions into practice, which I wifh and pray that every 
reader may do, fo far as they may properly fuithis ca- 
pacities and circumftances in life, qonfidering it as if ad- 
dreiTed to himfelf. — I fay, and defire it may be obferved, 
that I wifh my reader may act on thefe directions fo far as 

they 
}a) Pro v. xxiii. 17. * N. B. It was in the year 1727, 



Ch. 19. A letter on this fubjeB introduced. 201 

they may properly fuit his capacities and circumftances 
in life, for I would be far from laying down the follow- 
ing particulars as univerfal rules for all, or for any one 
perfon in the world at all times. Let them be practifed 
by thofe that are able, and when they have leifure : And 
when you cannot reach them all, come as near the moil 
important of them as you conveniently can. — With this 
precaution I proceed to the letter, which I would hope, 
after this previous care to guard againft the danger of 
miftaking it, will not difcourage any theweakeft Chriftian. 
Let us humbly and cheerfully do our heft, and rejoice 
that we have fo gracious a father who knows all our in- 
firmities, and fo companionate an high prieft to recom- 
mend to divine acceptance the feebleft efforts of hncere 
duty and love ! 

My dear Friend, 

Since you defire my thoughts in writing, and at large, 
on the fubject of our late converfation, viz. " By what 
particular methods in our daily con duel:, a life of devotion 
and ufefulnefs may be moft happily maintained, and fe- 
cured ?" I fet myfelf with cheerfulnefs, to recollect and 
digeft the hints which I then gave you; hoping, it may 
be of fome fervice to you in your moft important inter- 
efts ; and may alfo fix on my own mind a deeper fenfe of 
my obligations, to govern my own life by the rules I of- 
fer to others. I efteem attempts of this kind among the 
pleafanteft fruits, and the fureft cements of friendihip ; 
and as I hope ours will laft for ever, I am perfuaded a 
mutual care to cherifh fentiments of this kind will add 
everlafting endearments to it. 

§. 2. The directions you will expect from me on this 
occafion, naturally divide themfelves into three heads. 
How we are to regard God, — in the beginning — the pro- 
grefs, — and the clofe of the day. I will open my heart 
freely to you with regard to each, and leave you to judge, 
how far thefe hints may fuit your circumftances ; aiming 
at leaft to keep between the extremes, of a fuperftitious 
ftrictnefs in trifles, and of an indolent remiffnefs, which, 
if admitted in little things, may draw after it criminal neg. 
lefts, and at length yet more criminal indulgences. 



202 Diredtions fer the beginning of the day. Ch. 19. 

§. 3. (I.) In the beginning of the day : It mould 
certainly be our care — to lift up our hearts to God, as 
foon as we wake, and while we are riling ; — and then, to 
fet ourfelves ferioufly and immediately to the fecret devo- 
tion of the morning. 

§. 4. For the firft of thefe, it feems exceedingly nat- 
ural. There are fo many things that may fuggeft a great 
variety of pious reflections and ejaculations, which are fo 
obvious, that one would think a ferious mind could hardly 
mifs them. The eafe and cheerfulnefs of our mind at our 
firft awakening ; the refrefhment we rind from ileep ; the. 
fecurity we have enjoved in that defencelefs ftate ; the 
provifion of warm and decent apparel; the cheerful light 
of the returning fun ,• or even- (what it is not unfit to 
mention to you, ) the contrivances of art, taught and fur- 
nifhed by the great author of all our conveniences, to fup- 
ply us with many ufeful hours of life in the abfence of the 
fun ; the hope of returning to the dear fociety of our 
friends ; the profpecl: of fpending another day, in the fer- 
vice of God, and the improvement of our own minds ; 
and above all, the lively hope of a joyful refurrection to 
an eternal day of happinefs and glory : Any of thefe par- 
ticulars, and many more which I do not mention, may 
furnifh us with matter of pleafmg reflection and cheerful 
praife, while we are rifmg. And for our farther affi fi- 
ance, when we are alone at this time, it may not be im- 
proper to fpeak fometimes to ourfelves, and fometimes to 
our heavenly father, in the natural expreflions of joy and 
thankfulnefs. Permit me, fir, to add, that if we find 
our hearts in fuch a frame at our firft a vvakening, even 
that is juft matter of praife, and the rather, as perhaps it 
is an anfwer to the prayer with which we lay down. 

§. 5. For the exercife of fecret devotion in a morning, 
which I hope will generally be our firft work, I cannot 
prefcribe an exact method to another. You mult, my 
dear friend, confurt your own taite in fome meafure. 
The constituent parts of the fervice are in the general 
plain. Were I to propofe a particular model for thofe, 
who have half or three quarters of an hour at command, 
which with prudent conduct I fuppofe moft may have, it 
fhould be thi§. 

J. 6, 



Ch. ie> Particular advices given, with refpeB 203 

§. 6. To begin the ftated devotions of the day with tt 
folemn act of praife, olfered to God on our knees, and 
generally with a low, yet diitinct voice ; acknowledging 
the mercies, we have been reflecting on while riling ; 
never forgetting to mention Chrift, as the great founda* 
tion of all our enjoyments and our hopes, or to return^ 
thanks for the influences of the blelfed fpirit, which have 
led our hearts to God, or are then engaging us to i'eek 
him. This, as well as other offices of devotion after- 
wards mentioned, rnuft be done attentively and fmcerely ; 
for not to offer our praifes heartily, is in the fight of God 
not to praife him at all. This addrefs of praife may prop- 
erly be concluded with an exprefs renewal of our cove* 
nant with God, declaring our continued repeated resolu- 
tion of being devoted to him, and particularly of living 
to his glory the enfuing day. 

§. 7. It may be proper, after this, to take a profpecl 
of the day before us, fo far as we can probably forefee in 
the general, where and how it may be fpent ; and feriouf. 
ly to reflect, "bow lhall I employ myfelf for God this 
day ? What bufinefs is to be done, and in what order ? 
What opportunities may I expect, either of doing, or of 
receiving good ? What temptations am I like to be af* 
faulted with, in any place, company, or circumltance, 
which may probably occur ? in what initances have I 
lately failed i And how lhall I be fafeft now ?" 

§. 8. After this review, it will be proper to offer up a 
fhort prayer ; begging, that God would quicken us to 
each of theie forefeen duties ; that he would fortify us a*, 
gainft each of thefe apprehended dangers ; that he would 
grant us iuccefs in fuch or fuch a bufmefs undertaken for 
his glory ; and alio, that he would help us to difcover 
and improve unforefeeh opportunities, to refill unexpect- 
ed temptations, and to bear patiently, and religioufly, 
any afflictions which may furprize us in the day on which 
we are entering* 

§. 9. I would advife you after this, to read fome por- 
tion of fcripture ; not a great deal, nor the whole bible 
in its courfe ; but fome feiect leifons out of its mod ufeful 
parts, perhaps ten or twelve verfes ; not troubling your* 
felf much about the exact connexion, or other critical 

niceties, 



204 to the fecret devotions of the morning, Ch. 19, 

niceties, which may occur, though at other times I would 
recommend them to your enquiry, as you have ability 
and opportunity ; but confidering them merely in a devo- 
tional and a practical view. Here take fuch inftruclions 
as readily preient themfelves to your thoughts, repeat 
them over to your own confcience, and charge your heart 
religioufly to obierve them and act upon them, under a 
jfenfe of the divine authority which attends them. And 
if you pray over the iubftance of this fcripture, with your 
bible open before you, it may imprefs your memory asid 
your heart yet mere deeply, and may form you to a co- 
pioufneis and variety, both of thought and exprefiicn in 
prayer. 

§. 10. It might be proper to clofe thefe devotions with 
a Pfalm or Hymn : And I rejoice with you, that through 
the pious care of Dr. Watts, and feme other facred poets, 
w r e are provided with fo rich a variety for the aiiiftance 
of the clofet and family on thefe occalions, as well as for 
the fervice of the fanctuary. 

§. 11. (II.) The moll material directions which have 
occurred to me, relating to theprogreis of the day, are 
thefe ; — That we be ferious in the devotions of the day ; 
.—-that we be diligent, in the bufmefs of it, that is, in the 
proiecution of cur worldly callings ; — that we be temper- 
ate and prudent in the recreations of it ; — that we care- 
fully remark the providences of the day ; — that we cau- 
tioufiy guard againft the temptations of it ; — that we keep 
up a lively and humble dependance upon the divine in- 
fluence, iuitable to every emergency of it ; — that we gov- 
ern our thoughts well in the folitude of the day, — and 
our difcourfes well in the converfations of it. Thefe, fir, 
w r ere the heads of a fermon, which you lately heard me 
preach on this occafion, and to which I know you referr- 
ed in that requed which I am now endeavouring to an- 
fwer. I will therefore touch upon the molt material hints, 
which fell under each of thefe particulars. 

I. 12. (1.) For ierioufnefs in devotion whether public 
or domeitic : Let us take a few moments, before we en- 
ter upon inch folemnities, to paufe, and reflect, on the 
perfections of the God we are addremng to, on the im- 
portance of the bufmefs we are coming about, on the ? 

pleafure 



Ch. 1 9- DireElions for the progrefo of the day, 205 

pleafure and advantage of a regular and devout attend- 
ance, and on the guilt and folly of an hypocritical for- 
mality. When engaged, let us maintain a ltrict watch- 
Fulnefs over our own ipirits, and check the firft wander- 
ings of thought. And when the duty is over, let us im* 
mediately reflect on the manner in which it has been per- 
formed, and aflt our own consciences, whether we have 
reafon to conclude, that we are accepted of God in it I 
For there is a certain manner of going through thefe of» 
fices, which our own hearts will immediately tell us, it is 
impoflible for God to approve ; And if we have inad- 
vertently fallen into it, we ought to be deeply humbled 
before God for it, left * our very prayer become fin.' (b) 

§. 13. (2.) As for the hours of wordly bufmefs ; 
whether it be, as with you, that of the hands ; or whether 
it be the labour of a learned life, not immediately relating 
to religious matters : Let us fet to the profecution of it 
with a fenfe of God's authority, and with a regard to his 
glory. Let us avoid a dreaming, lluggifh, indolent tem- 
per, which nods over its work, and does only the bufmefs 
©f one hour in two or three. In oppofition to this, which 
runs through the life of fome people, who yet think they 
are never idle, let us «ndeavour to difpatch as much as 
we well can in a little time ; confidering, that it is but a 
little we have in all. And let us be habitually fenfible of 
the need we have of the divine blefling, to make our la* 
bours fuccefsful. 

§. 14. (3O Forfeafons ofdiverfion: Let us take care ? 
that our recreations be well chofen ; that they be purfued 
with a good intention, to fit us for a renewed application 
to the labours of life ; and thus, that they be only tifed 
in fubordination to the honour of God, the great end of 
all our actions. Let us take heed, that our heaits be not 
eftranged from God by them ; and that they do not take 
up too much of our time : Always remembering, that 
the faculties of the human nature, and the advantages of 
the Chriftian revelation, were not given us in vain ; but 
that we are always to be in purfuit of fome great and hon- 
ourable end, and to indulge ourfelves in amufements and 
diverfions no farther, than as they may make a part 
S iu 

(b) Pfal. cix. 7. 



2oS with particular advices on this head. Ch. 19* 

in a fcheme of rational and manly, benevolent and pious 
conduct. 

§. 15. (4.) For the obfervation of providences : It 
will be ufeful to regard the divine interpcfition, in our 
comforts and in our afflictions. — In our comforts, whether 
more common, or extraordinary : That we find curielves 
in continued health ; that We are furniihed with food for 
fupport and pleafure ; that we have fo many agreeable 
ways of employing our time ; that we have fo many 
friends, and thole io good, and fo happy; that our buii- 
nefs goes on profperouily ; that we go out and come in 
Safely ; and that we enjoy compofure and cheerfulnefs of 
fpirit, without which nothing elfe could be enjoyed : All 
thefe mould be regarded as providential favours, and due 
acknowledgments lhould be made to God on thefe ac- 
counts, as we pafs through fucli agreeable fcenes. — On 
the other hand, providence is to be regarded in every dis- 
appointment, in every lofs, in every pain, in every in- 
ftance of unkindnefs from thofewho have profeiTed friend- 
iliip : And we ihould endeavour to argue ourfeh es into a 
patient fubmimon, from this confideration, that the hand 
of God is always mediately, if not immediately, in each 
of them ; and that if they are not properly the work of 
providence, they are at leaft under its direction. It is a 
reflection, which we mould particularly make with rela- 
tion to thofe little crofs accidents., as we are ready to call 
them, and thofe infirmities and follies in the temper and 
conduct of our intimate friends, which may elfe be ready 
to difcompofe us. And it is the more neceiTary to guard 
our minds here, as wife and good men often lofe the com- 
mand of themfelves on thefe comparatively little occa- 
fions ; who, calling up reafon and religion to their aifift- 
ance, ftand the fhock of great calamities with fortitude 
and refolution. 

§. 16. (5.1 For watchfulnefs agamft temptations: It 
is neceffary, when changing our place, or our employ- 
ment to reflect, " what mares attend me here ?" And as 
this ihould be our habitual care, fo we lhould efpeciaily 
guard againft thefe fnares which in the morning we fore- 
law. And when we are entering en thofe circumftances 
in which we expected the afiault, we fhould reflect, efpe= 

cially 






Ch. 19. Temptations 'Jhould be watched again ft, &c. 207 

daily if it be a matter of great importance, " now the 
combat is going to begin : Now God and the blefTed an- 
gels are observing, what conftancy, what fortitude there 
is in my foul ; and how far the divine authority, and the 
remembrance of my own prayers and refolutions, will 
weigh with me, when it comes to a trial." 

§. 17. (6.) As for dependance on divine grace and in- 
fluence ; it muft be univerfal : And fmce we always need 
it, we muft never forget that neceffity. A. moment fpent: 
in humble, fervent breathings after the communications of 
the divine aiuftance may do more good, than many min- 
utes fpent in mere reasoning : And though indeed this 
mould not be neglected, iince the light of reafon is a kind 
of divine illumination ; yet flill it ought to be purfued in 
a due fenfe of our dependance on the ' father of lights, or 
where we think ourfelves wifeft, we may become vain in 
our imaginations.' (c) Let us therefore always call upon 
God ; and fay, for inftance, when we are going to pray, 
' Lord, fix my attention ! Awaken my holy affections, 
and ■ pour out upon me the fpirit of grace and of fupplica- 
tion [' (d) When taking up the bible, or any other good 
book, ' open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wond- 
rous things out of thy law!' (e) " Enlighten mine un- 
derftanding ! Warm my heart ! May my good refolu- 
tions be confirmed, and all the courfe of my life in a prop=. 
er manner regulated !" When addrefTmg ourfelves to a- 
ny worldly bufmefs, ' Lord, profper thou the work of 
mine hands upon me,' (f) " and give thy bleffing to my 
honeft endeavours !" When going to any kind of recrea- 
tion, " Lord, blefs my refrefhments . l Let me not forget 
thee in them, but (till keep thy glory in view !" When 
coming into company, " Lord, may I do, and get good !" 
£ Let no corrupt communication proceed out of my 
mouth, but that which is good to the ufe of edifying, 
that it may minifter grace to the hearers !' (g) Wlien 
entering upon difficulties, Lord, give me that ' wifdom* 
which is profitable to direct!' ihj 'Teach me thy way, 
and lead me in a plain path !' (ij When encountering 

with 
(c) Rom. i. 2T, 22. -(d) Zech. xii. 10. (e) Pfal. cxix. 18, 
(f) Pfal xc. 17. (g, Eph. iv. 29. (h, Ecclef. x, iq> 
(ij Pfal. xxvij. ji« 



2o8 The thoughts and difcourfe to be governed. Ch. 19. 

* ith temptations, * let thy ftrength, O gracious redeem- 
er, be made perfect in my weaknefs I* (k) Thefe in- 
fiances may illu (Irate the deiign of this direction, though 
they be far from a complete enumeration of all the cir- 
cum fiances in which it is to be regarded. 

§. 18. (7.) For the government of our thoughts in 
folitude : Let us accuftom ourfelves, on all occaftons, 
to exercife a due command over our thoughts. Let us 
take care of thofe entanglements of paflion, and thofe at- 
tachments to any prefent intereft and view, which would 
deprive us of our power over them, Let us fet before us 
fome profitable fubjecl of thought : Such as, the perfec- 
tions of the bleifed God, the love of Chrift, the value of 
time, the certainty and importance of death and judg- 
ment, and of the eternity of happinefs or mifery which 
is to follow. Let us alio at fuch intervals relied:, on 
what we have obferved as to the ftate of our own fouls, 
with regard to the advance or decline of religion ; or on 
the lafl fermon we have heard, or the laft portion of fcrip- 
ture we have read. You may perhaps, in this connection, 
fir, recollect what I have, if I remember right, propofe< 
to you in converfation ; that it might be very ufeful t< 
felect fome one verfe of fcripture, which we had met witl 
in the morning, and to treasure it tip in our mind, refolv- 
ing to think of that at any time when we are at a lofsfor 
matter of pious reflection, in any intervals of leifure for 
entering upon it. This will often be as a fpring, from 
whence many profitable and delightful thoughts may a- 
rife, which perhaps we did not before fee in that connec« 
tion and force. Or if it mould not be fo, yet I am per- 
suaded, it will be much better to repeat the fame fcripture 
in our mind an hundred times in a day, with fome pious 
ejaculation formed upon it, than to leave our thoughts at 
the mercy of all thofe various trifles which may otherwife 
intrude upon us ! the variety of which wUl be far from 
making amends for their vanity. 

§. 19. (8.) Laflly, for the government of our dif» 
courfe in company : We fhould take great care, that 
nothing may efcape us, which can expofe us, or our Chrif. 
tian profeffion, to cenfure and reproach : Nothing inju- 
rious 
(k) 2 Cot. xii. 9. 



€h. 19. Bife8ions for the exerci/e of fb£ 

rious to thofe that are abfent or to thofe that are prefent ; 
nothing malignant, nothing infincere ; nothing which, 
may corrupt, nothing which may provoke, nothing which 
may miflead thofe about us. Nor mould we, by any 
means, be content, that what we fay is innocent : it fhould 
be our defire, that it may be edifying, to ourfelves and 
others. In this view, we mould endeavour to have fome 
fubject of ufeful difcourfe always ready ; in which we may 
be affifted by the hints given, about furniture for thought* 
under the former head. We mould watch for decent op- 
portunities of introducing ufeful reflections ; and if a pi* 
ous friend attempt to do it, we mould endeavour to fee* 
ond it immediately. When the converfation does not 
turn directly on religious fubjects, we mould endeavour 
to make it improving fome other way : We mould reflect: 
on the character and capacities of our company, that we 
may lead them to talk of what they understand belt ; for 
their difcourfes on thofe fubjects will probably be molt 
pleafing to themfelves, as well as molt ufeful to us. And 
in paufes of difcourfe, it may not be improper to lift up 
an holy ejaculation to God, that his grace may afh ft u$ 
and our friends in our endeavours to do good to each 
other ; that all we fay, and do, may be worthy the 
character ofreafonable creatures and of Chriftians. 

§. 20. (III.) The directions for a religious clofmg of 
this day, which I mall here mention, are only two.*— 
Let us fee to it, that the fecret duties of the evening be 
well performed ; and let us lie down on our beds in a pi» 
ous frame. 

§. 21. (1.) For facret devotion in the evening, I 
Would propofe a method fomething different from that in 
the morning ; but ftiH, as then, with due allowances for 
circumftances, which may make unthought of altera- 
tions proper. I mould fir, advife to read a portion of 
fcripture in the firft place, with fuitable reflections, and 
prayer, as above : Then to read a Hymn, or Pfalm : 
After this to enter on felf-examination, to be followed by 
a longer prayer, than that which followed reading, to be 
formed on this review of the day. In this addrefs to the 
throne of grace it will be highly proper, to intreat that 
God would pardon the omifftons and ffencesof the day 5 

f to 



21 o felf examination in the evening. Ch. ijfL 

to pralfe him for mercies temporal and fpiritual, to re- 
commend onrfelves to his protection for the enfuing 
night ; with proper petitions for others, whom we ought 
to bear upon our hearts before him ; and particularly, for 
thofe friends with whom we have converfed or corref- 
ponded, in the proceeding- day. Many other concerns 
will occur, both in morning and evening prayer, which 
I have not here hinted at ; but I did not apprehend, that 
a full enumeration of thefe things belonged, by any 
means, to our prefent purpofe. 

§. 2.2. Before I quit this head, I muft take the liberty 
to remind you, that felf-examination is fo important a 
duty, that it will be worth our while to fpend a few words 
upon it, and this branch of it is fo eafy, that when we 
have proper queflkms before us, any perfon of a com- 
mon underftanding may hope to go through it with ad- 
vantage under a divine bleffing ; I offer you therefore the 
following queries, which I hope- you will, with fuch al- 
terations as you may judge requiiite, keep near you for 
daily ufe. " Did I awake as with God this morning, and 
rife with a grateful fenfe of his goodnefs ? How were 
the fecret devotions of the morning performed ? Did I 
offer my folemn praifes, and renew the dedication of 
myfelf to God, with becoming attention and fuitable af- 
fections ? Did I lay my fcheme for the bufmefs of the 
day wifely and well ? How did I read the fcripture, and 
any other devotional or practical piece, which I might 
afterwards conveniently review ? Did it do my heart 
good, or was it mere amufement ? — How have the other 
itated devotions of the day been attended, whether in the 
family, or in public ? Havel purfued the commvn bufi- 
nefs of this day with diligence, and fpirituality ; doing 
everf thing in feafon, and with all convenient difpatch, 
and ' as unto the Lord V (1) What time have I loft this 
day, in the morning, or forenoon, in the afternoon, or 
the evening ;" (for thefe divifions will affift your recollec- 
tion) "and what has occafioned the lofs of it ? With 
what temper, and under what regulations, have the rec- 
reations of this day been purfued ? Have I feen the hand 
cf God in my mercies* health, eheerfulnefs, food, cloth- 
ing* 
(1) CoLhh2^ 



Ch. 19. Wc jhouhl lie down with a proper temper, ill 

ing, books, prefervation in journies, fuccefs of bufmefs, 
converfation and kindnefs of friends, &c ? Have I feen 
it in afflictions, and particularly in little things which had 
a tendency to vex and di-i quiet me ? And with regard 
to this interpofitron, have I received my comforts thank- 
fully, and my afflictions fubmifEvely ? How have I 
guarded againft the temptations of the day, particularly 
againil this or that temptation, which I forefaw in the 
morning ? Have I maintained an humble dependance on 
divine influences ? Havel '-lived by faith in the fon oi 
God,' (m) and regarded Chrift this day, as my teacher 
and governor, my atonement and interceffor, my exam- 
ple and guardian, my ilrength and forerunner ? Have I 
been looking forward to death and eternity this day, and 
considered m-yfelf as a probationer for heaven, and 
through grace an expectant of it ? Have I governed my 
thoughts well, especially in- fuch or fuch an interval of 
folitude ? How was my fubject of thought this day chofen 
and how was it regarded ? Have I governed my dif- 
courfes well, rn fuch and fuch company ? Did I fay 
nothing paffionate, mifchievous, flanderous, imprudent, 
impertinent ? Has my heart this day been full of love to 
God, and to all mankind; and have I fought, and found, 
and improved opportunities of doing, and getting good ? 
— With what attention and improvement have I read the 
fcripture this- evening I How was felf-examinaticn per- 
formed the laft night ; and how have I profited this day 
by any remarks I then made on former negligences and 
mi flakes ? With what temper did I then lie down, and 
compofe myfelf to fleep ?" 

§. 23. You will eafily fee, fir, that thefe queitions are 
fo adjufted, as to be an abridgment of the mod material 
advices I have given in this letter ; and I believe I need 
not, to a perfon of your understanding, fay any thing as 
to the ufefulnefs of fuch enquiries. Confcience will an- 
fwer them in a few minutes ; but if you think them too 
large and particular, you may make a Mill Shorter ab- 
stract for daily ufe, and referve thefe, with fuch obvious 
alterations as will then be neceilary, for feafons oi more 
than ordinary exactnefs in review, which I hope will oc- 
cur 
(m) Gal. ii. 20, 



SI2 We Jh&uld lie dotvn with a proper temper, &c. Gh. 19. 

cur at lead once a week. Secret devotion being thus per- 
formed, before drowfmefs renders us unfit for it,, the in- 
terval between that and our going to reft muft be con- 
ducted by the rules mentioned under the next head. And 
nothing will farther remain to be confidered here, But 

<$. 24. (2.) The fentiments, with which we mould lie 
down, and compofe ourfelves to fleep ; now here it is ob- 
vioufly fuitable, to think of the divine goodnefs, in adding 
another day and the mercies of it to the former days and 
mercies of our life to take notice of the indulgence of 
providence, in giving us commodious habitations and eafy 
beds, and continuing to us fuch health of body, that we 
can lay ourfelves down at eafe upon them, and fuch fe- 
renity of mind as leaves us any room to hope for refrefh- 
ing fleep : A refrefhment to be fought, not merely as an 
indulgence to animal nature, but as what our wife crea- 
tor, in order to keep us humble in the midft of fo many 
infirmities, has been pleafed to make neceffary to our be- 
ing able to perfue his fervice with renewed alacrity. 
Thus may our fleeping, as well as our waking hours, be 
in fome fenfe devoted to God. And when we are jufl go- 
ing to refign ourfelves to the image of death, to what one 
of the ancients, beautifully calls its leffer myfteries, it is 
alfo evidently proper, to think ferioufly of that end of all 
the living, and to renew thofe actings of repentance and 
faith, which we mould judge neceffary, if we were to 
wake no more here. You have once, fir, feen a medita- 
tion of that kind in my hand : I will tranferibe it for you 
in the poftfeript ; and therefore mail add no more to this 
head, but here put a clofe to the directions you de- 
fired. 

§. 25. I am perfuaded, the mofl important of them 
have, in one form or another, been long regarded by 
you, and made governing maxims of your life. I mail 
greatly rejoice, if the review of thefe, and the examina- 
tion and trial of the reft, may be a means of leading you . 
into more intimate communion with God, and fo of ren- 
dering your life more pleafant and ufeful, and your e- 
ternity, whenever that is to commence, more glorious. 
There is n.ot a human creature upon earth, whom I 

fhould 



Ch. 19. A view of death at the clofe of the day. 2 l 5 

mould not delight to ferve in thefe important interefts ; 
but I can faithfully allure you, that I am, with particu- 
lar refpedt, 

Dear Sir, 

Your very affectionate friend and fervant. 
§. 2%. This, reader, with the alteration of a very few 
words, is the letter I wrote to a worthy friend, now I 
doubt not with God, about fixteen years ago : A»d I 
can affuredly fay, that the experience of each of thefe 
years has confirmed me in thefe views, and eftablifhed 
me in the perfuafion, "that one day thusfpent is prefera- 
ble to whole years of fenfuality, and the neglect of reli- 
gion." I chofe to infert the letter as it is, becaufe I 
thought the freedom and particularity of the advice I had 
given it, would appear moft natural in its original form : 
And as I propofe to inforce thefe advices in the next chap* 
ter, I mall conclude this with that meditation, which I 
promifed my friend as a poftfcript ; and which I could 
wifh you, to make fo familiar to yourfelf, as that you 
might be able to recollect the fubftance of it, whenever 
you compoie yourfelf to fleep. 

A fer'wus view of death, prop&r to be taken as we lie down 
on our beds* 

" O MY foul, look forward a little with ferioufnefs 
and attention, and ' learn wifdom, by the confideration 
of thy latter end.' (n) Another of thy mortal days is 
now numbered and finifhed ; and as I have put off my 
clothes, and laid myfelf upon my bed, for the repofe of 
the night ; fo will the day of life quickly come to its peri* 
od, fo muft the body itfelf be put off, and laid to its re- 
pofe in a bed of duft. There let it reft ; for it will be no. 
more regarded by me, than the clothes which I have now 
laid afide. I have another far more important concern 
to attend, Think, O my foul, when death comes, thou 
art to enter upon the eternal world, and to be fixed either 
in heaven or in hell. All the fchemes and cares, the 
hopes and fears, the pleafures and forrows of life, will 
come to their period, and the world of fpirits will open 

upon 

(») Deut. xxxii. 29, 



4 -d view of death at the clofi of the day. 

upon thee. And O, how foon may it open ! Perhaps 
before the returning fun brings on the light of another day. 
To morrow's fun may not enlighten mine eyes, but only 
fhine round a fenfelefs corpfe, which may lie in the place 
of this animated body. At leail the death of many in 
the flower of their age, and many who were fuperior to 
me in capacity, piety, and the profpects of ufefulnefs-, 
may loudly warn me not to depend on a long life, and 
engage me rather to wonder that I am continued here fo 
many years, than to- be furprized if I am fpeedily re- 
moved. 

" And now, O my foul,-anfwer as in the fight of God ; 
art thou ready ? Art thou ready ? Is there no fin unfor- 
faken, and fo unrepented of, to fill me with anguifh in 
my departing moments, and to make me tremble on the 
brink of eternity ? Dread to remain under the guilt of it, 
and this moment renew thy moft earned applications to 
the mercy of God, and the blood of a redeemer, for de- 
liverance from it* 

" But if the great account be already adjufted, if thou 
haft cordially repented of thy numerous offences, if thou 
haft fmcerely committed thyfelf by faith into the hands of 
the bleffed Jefus, and haft not renounced thy covenant 
with him by returning to the allowed practice of fin, then 
ftart not at the thoughts of a feparation : It is not in the 
power of death to hurt a foul devoted to God, and u- 
nited to the great redeemer. It may take me from my 
worldly comforts ; it may difconcert and break my 
fchemes for fervice on earth : But, O my foul, diviner 
entertainments, and nobler fervices wait thee beyond the 
grave. For ever bleffed be the name of God and the 
love of Jefusj for thefe quieting, encouraging, joyful 
views! I will now •' lay me down in peace, and ileep, J 
(o) free from the fears of what ihall be the ifTue of this 
night, whether life or death may be appointed for me. 

* Father, into thine hand" I commend my fpirit ;' (p) for 

* thou haft redeemed me, O God of truth,' (q) and there-. . 
fore I can cheerfully -refer it to thy choice, whether I Ihall 
wake, in this world, or another." 

Chap, 
(o) PfaJ. iv. 8. (p) Luke xxiii. 46. (q) Pfal. xxxi. 5, 



Ch-. 20* A perfuafivs to follow ihefe direclions. 215 

C H A P. XX. 

A SERIOUS PERSUASIVE TO SUCH A METHOD OF SPENDING 

OUR DAYS, AS IS REPRESENTED IN THE FORMER 

CHAPTER, 

Chriflians fix their views too hw, and Indulge too indolent a 
difpofition, which makes it more neccjfary to urge fuch a life, 
as thai under ccnfideration. §•; . 1, 2. It is therefore ir forced, 
( 1.) from its being apparently reafonabk, considering our- 
J elves as the creatures of God) >and as redeemed by the blood 
of Chrifl. \-. 3. (2.) From its evident tendency to conduce to 
our comfort in life. §. 4. (3.) From the influence it 'will have 
to promote cur ufcfulnefs toothers. §. 5. (4.) From its ef- 
ficacy to make afflictions lighter. ^. 6. r (K.) From its happy 
afpecl on death : §.7. And (6.) On eternity. §.8. Where** 
as not to defire improvement woidd argue a foul deflitute of 
religion. §. 9. A prayer fuited to the flaie of afoul,, who 
Iqngs to attain the life recommended above-. 

{-. 1. 1 HAVE been aligning, in the preceding chap- 
ter, what I fear will feem to feme of my readers i'o hard 
a talk,, that they will want courage to attempt it j and it 
is indeed a life in many reipecls lb far above that of the 
generality of Chriftians, that I am not without apprehen- 
sions, that many, who deferve the name, may think the 
directions, after all the precautions with which I have 
propofed them, are carried to an -unneceffary degree of 
nicety and ftrictneis. But I am perfuaded, much of the 
credit and comfort of ChriiHanity is loft, in confequence 
of its profeifors fixing their aims too low, and not con- 
ceiving of their high and holy calling in fo elevated and 
fublime a view, as the nature of religion would require, 
and the word of God would direct. lam fully convinc- 
ed, that the expreffions of ' walking with God, of being 
„ in the fear of the Lord all the day long,' (a) and above 
all, that of * loving the Lord our God with all our heart, 
and foul, and mind, and ftrength,' (b) rnuft require, if 
not all thefe circumftances, yet die fubftance of all that I 

have 
(a) Prov* xxiii. 17, (b) Mark xii. 30. 



2 1 6 The rcafonabhnefs of fuch a life, Ch. 



. 






have been recommending, fo far as we have capacity, 
leifure and opportunity ; And I cannot but think, that 
many might command more of the latter, and perhaps 
improve their capacities too, if they would take a due 
care in the government ofthemfelves ; if they would give 
up vain and unneceflary diverfions, and certain indul- 
gences, which only fuit and delight the lower part of our 
nature, and (to fay the beft of them) deprive us of plea- 
fures much better than themfelves, if they do not plunge 
us into guilt. Many of thefe rules would appear eafily 
practicable, if men w T ould learn to know the value of time, 
and particularly to redeem it from unneceffary fleep„ 
which waftes many golden hours of the day : Hours, in 
which many of God's ferVants are delighting themfelves 
in him, and drinking in full draughts of the w T ater of life ; 
while thefe their brethren are flumbering upon their beds, 
and loft in vain dreams, as far below the common enter- 
tainments of a rational creature, as the pleafures of the 
fublimeft devotion are above them. 

§. 2. I know likewife, that the mind is very fickle and 
incohftant ; and that it is a hard thing to preferve fuch 
a government and authority over our thoughts, as would 
be very defirable, and as the plan I have laid down will 
require. But fo much of the honour of God, and fo 
much of your own true happinefs, depends upon it, that 
I beg you will give me a patient and attentive hearing 
while I am pleading with you ; and that you will feriouf- 
ly examine the arguments, and then judge^ whether a 
care and conduct like that which I have advifed, be not 
in itfelf reafonable ; and whether it will not be highly con- 
ducive to your comfort and ufefulnefs in life, your peace 
in death, and the advancement and increafe of your eter- 
nal glory. 

§. 3. Let confcience fay, whether fuch a life as I have 
defcribed above be not in itfeif ^ighly reafonable. Look 
©ver the fubitance of it again, and bring it under a clofe 
examination ; for I am very apprehenfive, that fome weak 
objections may arife againft the whole, which may in their 
confequences affect particulars againft which no reafona- 
ble man would prefume to make any objection at all. 
Recollect, O Christian, and carry it with you in your 

memory 



Ch. 20. from our obligations to God and Chrift- 21 7 

memory and your heart, while you are purfuing this re- 
view, that you are the creature of God, that you are pur- 
chafed with the blood of Jefus ; and then fay, whether 
thefe relations in which you Hand, do not demand all that 
application and refolution which I would engage you to. 
Suppofe all the counfels I have given, reduced into prac- 
tice : Suppofe every day begun and concluded with fuch 
devout breathings after God, and fuch holy retirements 
for morning and evening converfe with him and widi 
your own heart ; Suppofe a daily care, in contriving how 
your time may be managed, and reflecting how it has 
been employed : Suppofe this regard to God, this fenfe 
of his pretence, and zeal for his glory, to run through 
your acts of worfhip, your hours of bufmefs and recrea- 
tion : Suppofe this attention to providence, this guard a- 
gainft temptations, this dependance upon divine influence, 
this government of the thoughts in folitude, and of the 
difcourfes in company : Nay, I will add farther, fuppofe 
every particular direction given, to be purfued, excepting 
when particular cafes occur, with refpect to which you 
(hall be able in confcience to fay, " I wave it, not from 
indolence and carelefsnefs, but becaufe I think it willjuft 
now be more pleating to God to be doing fomething elie;" 
which may often happen in human life, where general 
rules are bell concerted: Suppofe, I fay, all this to be 
done, not for a day, or a week, but through the remain- 
der of life, whether longer or fhorter ; and fuppofe this 
to be reviewed at the clofe of life, in the full exercife of 
your rational faculties : Will there be reafon to fay in the 
reflection, '* I have taken too much pains in religion : 
The author of my being did not deferve all this from me : 
Lefs diligence, lefs fidelity, lefs zeal than this, might have 
been an equivalent for the blood which was fhed for my 
redemption. A part of my heait, apart of my time, a 
part of my labours, might have fuiHced for him, who 
hath given me all my powers ; for him, who has deliver- 
ed me from that deitruction, which would have made 
them my everlafting torment ; for him, who is raifmg* 
me to the regions of a blifsful immortality." Can you 
with any face fay this \ If you cannot, then furely your 

confcience 
T 



2 it It ivill conduce to your iomfort in life, Ch. 26 

confcience bears witnefs,that all I have recommended, under 
the limitations above, isreafonable; that duty and gratitude 
require it ; and coniequently, that by every allowed fai- 
lure in it, you bring guilt upon your own foul, you offend 
God, and act unworthy your chriflian profeffion. 

§. 4. I intreat you farther to confider, whether fuch 
a conduct as I have now been recommending, would not 
conduce much to your comfort and ufefulnefs in life. 
Reflect ferioufly, what is true happinefs ? Does it coniifl 
in diftanee fiom God, or in nearnefs to him ? Surely you 
cannot be a Chriflian, furely you cannot be a rational 
man, if you doubt, whether communion with the great 
father of our fpirits be a pleafure and felicity : And if it 
be, then furely they enjoy moft of it, who keep him mofl 
conftantly in view. You cannot but know in your own 
confcience, that it is this which makes the happinefs of 
heaven ; and therefore the more of it any man enjoys up- 
on earth, the more of heaven comes down into his foul. 
If you have made any trial of religion, tho' it be but a 
few months or weeks fince you flrft became acquainted 
with it, you muft be fome judge of it upon your own ex- 
perience, which have been the moft pleafant days of your 
life. Have they not been thofe, in which you have acted mofl 
upon thefe principles; thofe, in which.you have moft fteadily 
and refolutely carried them through every hour of time, 
and every circumftance of life ? The check, which you 
mint in many inftances give to your own inclinations, 
might feem difagreeable ; but, it would furely be over- 
balanced, in a moft happy manner, by the fatisfaction you 
would find in a conciouinefs of felf government ; in hav- 
ing fuch a command of your thoughts, affections, and ac- 
tions, as is much more glorious than any authority over 
others can be. 

$.5.1 would alfo intreat you to confider the influence, 
which fuch a conduct as this might have upon the happi- 
nefs of others. And it is eafy to be feen, it muft be very 
l^reat : as you would find your heart always difpofed to 
watch every opportunity of doing good, and to feize it 
with eagernefs and delight. It would engage you t© 
make it the ftudy and bufmefs of your life, to order things 
in fuch a -manner, that the end of one kind and ufeful ac- 
tion 






Ch. 20. *nd help td-make you ufeful to others. 2i£ 

tion might be the beginning of another; in which you 
would go on as naturally, as the inferior animals do in 
thofe productions and actions by which mankind are re- 
lieved or enriched ; or as the earth bears her fucceffive 
crops of different vegetable fupplies. Andthough mankind 
be, in this corrupt ftate, fo unhappily inclined to imitate 
evil examples rather than good ; yet it may be expected, 
that while your light mines before men, fome feeing your 
good works will endeavour to tranfcribe them in their 
own lives, and fo to glorify your father which is in hea- 
ven, (c) The charm of fuch beautiful models would fure- 
ly imprefs fome, and incline them at leaft to attempt a» 
imitation ; and every attempt would difpofe to another. 
And thus through the divine goodnefs, you might be in- 
titled to a lhare in the praife, and the reward, not only of 
the good you had immediately done yourfelf, but likewife 
of that which you had engaged others to do. And no 
eye, but that of an all-fearching God, can fee, into what 
diftant times or places the-bleffed confequences may reach. 
In every inftance in which thefe confequences appear, it 
will put a generous and fab iimejoy into your heart, which 
no worldly profperity could afford, and which would be 
the livelieft emblem of that high delight which the bleffed 
God feels, in feeing and making his creatures happy. 
• § 6. It is true indeed, that amidft. all thefe pious and 
benevolent cares, afflictions may come, and in ibme mea- 
fure interrupt you in the mid ft of your projected fchemes. 
But furely thefe afflictions will fit much lighter, when your 
heart is gladdened with the peaceful and joyful reflection 
of your own mind, and with fo honourable a teftimony of 
confcience before God and man. Delightful will it be to 
go back to part fcenes in your pleafmg review, and to 
think, that you have not only been fmcerely humbling 
yourfelf for thofe part offences, which afflictions may bring 
to your remembrance ; but that you have given fubftan- 
tial proofs of the fmcerity of that humiliation, by a real 
reformation of what has been amifs, and by acting with 
ftrenuous and vigorous refolution on the contrary ^princi- 
ple. And while converfe with God, and doing good t© 
men, are made the great bufmefs and pleafure of life, you 

will 
(c) Mat. v. if. 



22G Such a life tv'tllfweetin ajjlunOns, Sec. Ch. 2©, 

will find a thoufand opportunities of enjoyment ; even in 
the midft of thofe afflictions, which would render you 
fo incapable of relifhing the pleafures of fenfe, that the ve- 
ry mention of them might in thofe circumflances feem aa 
infult and a reproach. 

§. 7. At length, death will come : That folemn and 
important hour, which hath been paffed through by fo 
many thoufands who have in the main lived fuch a life, 
and by fo many millions who have neglected it. And let 
confeience fay, if there was ever any one of all thefe milli- 
ons, who had then any reafon to rejoice in that neglect 5 
€r anyone, among the moft ftrict and exemplary chriftians, 
who then lamented that his heart and life had been too 
zealoufly devoted to God ? Let confeience fay, whether 
they have wifhed to have a part of that time, which they 
have thus employed, given back to them again, that they 
might be more conformed to this world ; that they might 
plunge themfelves deeper into its amufements, or purfue 
its honors, its pofteffions, or its pleafures, with greater ea- 
gernefs than they had done ? If you were yourfelf dying, 
and a dear friend or child flood near you, and this book 
and the laft chapter of it mould chance to come into your 
thoughts, would you caution that friend or child againft 
conducting himfelf by fuch rules as I have advanced ? 
This queftion may perhaps feem unnecehary, where the 
anfwer is fo plain and fo certain. Well then, let me be» 
feech you, to learn how you mould live, by reflecting how 
you would die, and what a courfe you would wifh to look 
back upon, when you are juft quitting this world, and en- 
tering upon another. Think ferioufly, what if death 
ihould furprife you on a fudden, and you fhould be called 
into eternity at an hour's or a minute's warning, would you 
not wifh, that your laft day fhould have been thus begun ; 
and the courfe of it, if it were a day of health and activity, 
mould have been thus managed ? Would you not wiih, 
that your Lord ihould find you engaged in fuch thoughts, 
and in fuch purfuits ? Would not the paffage, the flight 
from earth to heaven, be moft eafy, moft pleafant, in 
this view and connection ? And on the other hand, if 
death mould make more gradual approaches, would not 
the remembrance of fuch a pious, holy, humble, diligent, 

and 



01. 20. Suchatife'wUlf'weeienqffllcllonSi &c» 2 at 

and ufeful life, make a dying bed much fofter and eafier , 
than it would otherwife be ? You would not die, depend- 
ing upon thefe things : God forbid, that you fhould I 
Senfible of your many imperfections, you would, no doubt,, 
defire to throw yourfelves at the feet of Chrift, that yon 
might appear before God, adorned with his rightcouf- 
nefs, and waihed from your fins in his blood. You would 
alfo with your dying breath afcribe to the riches of his 
grace every good difpofition you had found in your heart, 
and every worthy action you had been enabled to per- 
form. But would it not give you a delight Worthy of 
being purchafed with ten thoufand worlds* to reflect, that 
'his grace beftowed on you had not been in vain :' (d) but 
that you had, from an humble principle of grateful love, 
glorified your heavenly father on earth, and, in fome de- 
gree, tho' not with the perfection you could defire, ' finifh- 
ed the work which he had given you to do :' (e) That 
you had been living for many pad years as on the bor- 
ders of heaven, and endeavouring to form your heart and 
life to the temper and manners of its inhabitants ? 

§. 8. And once more, let me intr eat you to reflect oil 
the view you will have of this matter, when you come in- 
to a world of glory, if (which I hope will be the happy- 
cafe,) divine mercy conduct you thither. Will not your 
reception there be affected by your care, or negligence* 
in this holy courfe ? Will it appear an indifferent thing in 
the eye of the bleffed Jefus, who distributes the crowns, 
and allots the thrones there, whether you have been among 
the moft zealous, or the mofl indolent of his fervants ? 
Surely you muft wifh, to have * an entrance adminiftred un- 
to you abundantly, into the kingdom of your Lord and 
Saviour :' (f) And what can more certainly conduce 
to : it, than to be ' always abounding in his work?' (g) You 
cannot think fo meanly of that glorious Rate, as to ima- 
gine, that you ihall there look round about with a fecret 
difappointment, and fay in your heart, that you overvalu- 
ed the inheritance you have received, and purfued it with 
too much earneftnefs. Youxvill not furely complain, that 
it had too many of your thoughts and cares : But on the 
t contrary, 

(4) i Cor. xv. io. (e) John xvii. 4. (f) 2 Pet. i. jv* 
(g) 1 Cor. xv. $$; 



222 A prayer Jutted 'to the Jlate of afoul, &e. Ch. 20* 

contrary, you have the higheft reafon to believe, that if 
any thing were capable of exciting your indignation and 
your grief there, it would be, that amidft fo many mo- 
tives, and fo many advantages, you exerted yourfelf no 
more in the profecution of fuch a prize. 

§. 9. But I will not enlarge on fo- clear a cafe, and 
therefore conclude the chapter with reminding you, that 
to allow yourfelf deliberately to fit down fatisfied with 
any imperfect attainments in religion, and to look upon a 
more confirmed and improved ftate of it as what you do 
not defire, nay, as what you fecretly refolve that you will 
not purfue, be one of the moft fatal figns we can well ima- 
gine, that you are an entire ftranger to the iirft principles 
of it. 

A Pr ay er fitted 'to the Jlate of afoul, who defires to attain the 
life recommended above. 

f* BLESSED God, I cannot contradict the force of thefe 
reafonings : Oh that I might feel more than ever the laft- 
ing effects of them ! Thou art the great fountain of being 
and of happinefs ; and as from thee my being was deriv- 
ed, fo from thee my happinefs directly flows ; and the 
nearer I am to thee, the purer and the more delicious is 
the ftream. * With thee is the fountain of life ; in thy 
light may I fee light !' (h) The great object of my final 
hope is to dwell forever with thee. Give me now fome 
foretafte of that delight ! Give me, I befeech thee, to ex- 
perience 'the blelfednefs of that man, who feareth the Lord, 
and who delighteth greatly in his commandments ;' (i) 
and fo form my heart by thy grace, that I may 'be m the 
fear of the Lord all the day long ! ' ( k ) 

" 'j j thee may my awaking thoughts be directed ; and 
with the firft ray of light that vints mine opening eyes, 
'lift up, oh Lord, the light of thy countenance upon me!' 
(1) When my faculties are rpufed from that broken ftate 
in which they lay, while buried, and as it were annihilat- 
ed, in fleep, may my firft actions be confecrated to thee, 
O God, who giveft me light ; who giveft me, as it were, 

every 
(h) Pfal. xxxvi. 9. .(i) Pfalm. cxii. 1. (k) Prov. xxiii. 17. 
(1) Pfal. iv. 6. 



Ch. 20. who would attain fuch a courfe of life, 223 

every morning a new life and a new reafon ! Enable my 
heart to pour itfelf out before thee, with a filial reverence, 
freedom, and endearment ? And may I hearken to God, 
as I defire that he fhould hearken unto me ! May thy 
word be read with attention and pleafure ! May my foul 
be delivered into the mold of it, and may I < hide it in 
mine heart, that I may not fin againft thee !' (m) Animat- 
ed by the great motives, there fuggefted, may I every 
morning be renewing the dedication of myfelf to thee 
through Jefus thy beloved fon ; and be deriving from 
him new fupplies of that blefled fpirit of thine, whofe in- 
fluences are the life of my foul ! 

" And being thus prepared, do thou, Lord, lead me 
forth by the hand to all the duties and events of the day ! 
In that calling, wherein thou haft been pleafed to call me, 
may I abide with thee ; (n)'not being flothful in bufmefs, 
but ' fervent in fpirit ferving the Lord !' (o) May I know 
the value of time, and always improve it to the beft ad- 
vantage, in fuch duties as thou has affigned me ; how low 
fo ever they may feem, or how painful foever they may 
be ! To thy glory, oh Lord, may the labours of life be 
purfued ; and to thy glory may the refreshments of it be 
fought ! ' Whether I eat, or drink, or whatever I do,' (p) 
may that end ftill be kept in view, and may it be attain- 
ed ! And may every refrefhment, and releafe from bufi- 
nefs, prepare me to ferve thee with greater vigour and re- 
folution ! 

" May mine eye be watchful to obferve the defcent of 
mercies from thee ; and may a grateful fenfe of thine 
hand in them add a favour and a relifh to all ! And when 
afflictions come, which in a world like this I would accuf- 
tom myfelf to expect, may I remember that they come 
from thee ; and may that fully reconcile me to them, while 
I irmly believe, that the fame love which gives us our 
daily bread, appoints us our daily croifes ; which I would 
learn to take up, that I may * follow my dear Lord,' (q) 
with a temper like that which he manifefted, when afcend- 
ing calvary for my fake ; faying like him, * the cup which 
my father hath given me, mail I not drink it V (r) And 

wheia, 
(m) Pfal. cxix. 11, (n) 1 Cor. vii. 20, (o) Rom. xii. 
1 1. (p) 1 Cor. x. 31. (q.) j^lark xiii. 34... (r) ,John xviii. i 1, 



224 dl prayer fuited to thejate of a foul, kc* Ch. 2%, 

when I <• enter into temptation, do thou, Lord, deliver me 
from evil V (s) Make mefeniible, I intreat thee, of my 
own weaknefs, that my heart may be raifed to thee for 
prefent communications of proportionable ftrength ! When 
I am engaged in the fociety of others, may it be my de- 
foe and rny care, that I may do, and receive, as much 
good as poffible ; and may I continually anfwer the great 
purpofes of life, by honouring the*, and diifufing ufeful 
knowledge and happinefs in the world ? And when I am 
alone, may I remember my heavenly father is with me ; 
may I enjoy the pleafure of thy prefence, and feel the ani- 
mating power of it, awakening my foul to an earnefl de* 
fire to think, and act, as in thy fight ! 

" Thus let my days be fpent : And let them always 
be clofed in thy fear, and under a fenfe of thy gracious 
prefence ! Meet me, oh Lord, in mine evening retire- 
ments ! May I chufe the molt proper time for them ; may 
I diligently attend to reading and prayer ; and when I 
review my conduct, may I do it with an impartial eye ! Let 
not felf-love fpread a falfe colouring over it ; but may I 
judge myfelf, as one that expects to be judged of the Lord, 
and is veryfolicitous he may be approved by thee, who 
'fearcheft all hearts, canft not forget any of my works I' 
(t) Let my prayer come daily before thee as inceilfe, and 
let 'the lifting up of my hands be as the morning and the 
evening facrifice !' (u) May I refignmy powers to fleep 
in fweet calmnefs and ferenity ; confcious that I have 
lived to God in the day, and chearfully perfuaded that I 
am accepted of thee inChrift Jefus my Lord,and humbly- 
hoping in thy mercy through him, whether my days on 
earth be prolonged, or ' the refidue of them be cut off in 
the midft ! ? (x) If death comes by a leifurely advance, 
may it find me thus employed ; and if I am called on a 
fudden to exchange worlds, may my lafl days and hours 
be found to have been conducted by fuch maxims as thefe • 
that I may have a fweet and eafy paffage from the fervi- 
ces of time to the infinitely nobler fervices of an immor* 
tal date ! I afk it through him, who while on earth was 
the faireft pattern and example of every virtue aB.d grace, 

and 
£$) Mat. vi. 13. (t) Amos viii. 7. (u) Ffai. cxli. 2. 
(x) Ifai. xxxviii. iq» 



Ch. 21. The young convert is cautioned 22$ 

who now lives and reigns with thee, ' able to lave unt© 
the uttermoft :' (y) To him * having done all* I would 
fly, with humble acknowledgment that I am 'an unprof- 
itable fervantj* (%) to him be glory forever and ever< 
Amen" 

(y) Heb. vii. 25. (z) Luke xvii. 10. 



CHAR XXI. 

A CAUTION AGAINST VARIOUS TEMPTATIONS, BY WHICH 

THE YOUNG CONVERT MAY BE DRAWN ASIDE FROM 

THE COURSE RECOMMENDED ABOVE. 

Dangers continue , after thefirjt difficulties (confidered Chap tvi.) 
are broken through. §. 1. Particular cautions, (1.) againjl 
ajluggijh and indolent temper. §. 2. (2.) Againjl the ex~ 
iejfivelove of ' ftnfitive pleafure. §. 3. Leading to a negletl of 
lufinefs and needlefs expence. §. 4. (3.) Againjl the fnares 
of vain company. §. 5. (4.) Againjl excejjive hurries of 
worldly bujiuefs ; §. 6. which is inf arced by the fatal con* 
fequences thefe have had in many cafes. §. 7. The Chapter 
concludes with an exhortation to die to this world, and live to 
another ; §. 8. And the young convert's prayer for divin§ 
protection againjl the dangers ar'ifmg from thefe fnares. 

§. 1. X HE reprefentation J have been making of the 
pleafure and advantage of a life fpent in devotednefs to 
God and communion with him, as I have defcribed it a- 
bove, will I hope engage you, my dear reader, to form 
fome purpofes, and make fome attempt to obtain it. But 
from coniidering the nature and obferving the courfe of 
things, it appears exceedingly evident, that befides the 
general oppoiition which I formerly mentioned as like to 
attend you in your firft entrance on a religious life, you 
will find, even afteryou have refolutely broken through 
this, " a variety of hindrances" in any attempts of exem- 
plary piety, and in the profecution of a remarkably ftnc^ 

and 



226 agahijl a Jluggtfi and Indolent temper. Ch. 2r. 

and edifying courfe, will prefent themfelves daily in your 
path. And whereas you may, by a few refolute efforts, 
baffle fome of the former fort of enemies ; thefe will be 
perpetually renewing their onfets, and a vigorous ftruggle 
mud be continually maintained with them. Give 'me 
leave now, therefore, to be particular in my cautions a- 
gainft fome of the chief of them. And here I would 
infill upon the difficulties, which will arife from indolence, 
and the love of pleafure, from vain company, and from 
worldly cares. Each of thefe may prove infnaring to a- 
ny, and efpecially to young perfons, to whom I would now 
have fome particular regard. 

§. 2. I intreat you therefore, in the firfl place, that you 
would guard againfl a fluggifh and indolent temper. The 
love of eafe infmuates itfelf into the heart, under a variety 
of plaufible pretences, which are often allowed to pafs, 
when temptations of a groffer nature would not be admit- 
ted. The mifpending a little time feems to wife and good 
men but a fmall matter ; yet this fometimes runs them in- 
to great inconveniences. It often leads them to break in 
upon the feafons regularly allotted to devotion, and to (ie- 
fer bufmefs, which might immediately be done, but being 
put off from day to day is not done at all ; and thereby 
the fer vices of life are at leaft diminifhed, and the rewards 
of eternity diminilhed proportionally : Not to infill upon 
it, that very frequently this lays the foul open to farther 
temptations, by which it falls, in confequence of being 
found unemployed. Be therefore fufpicious of the firfl 
approaches of this kind. Remember, that the foul of man 
is an active being, and that it mufl find its pleafure in ac- 
tivity. * Gird up therefore the loins of your mind.' (a) 
Endeavour to keep yourfelf always w T ell employed. Be 
exact, if I may with humble reverence ufe the expreffion, 
in your appointments with God. Meet him early in the 
morning ; and fay not with the fluggard, when the prop- 
er hour of rifmg is come, ' a little more fleep, a little more 
{lumber.' (b) That time, • which prudence fhall advife 
you, give to converfation and to other recreations. But 
when that is elapfed, and no unforefeen and important en- 
gagement prefents, rife and begone. Quit the company 

of 
(a) i Pet. i. 13. (b) Prov. vi. 10. 



Ch. 21. Cautions againjl the love of pleafv.re, 227 

of your deareft friends, and retire to your proper bufmefs* 
whether it be in the field, the fhop, or the cloiet. For by 
acting contrary to the fecret dictates of your mind, as to 
what it isjuft at theprefent moment beft to do, though it 
be but in the manner of fpending half an hour, fome de- 
gree of guilt is contracted, and a habit is cherifhed, which 
may draw after it much worfe confequences. Confider 
therefore, what duties are to be difpatched, and in what 
feafons. Form your plan as prudently as you can, and 
purfue it refolutely ; unlefs any unexpected incident arif- 
es, which leads you to conclude, that duty calls you a- 
nother way. Allowances for fuch unthought of interrup- 
tions muft be made ; but if in confequence of this, you are 
obliged to omit any thing of importance which you pur- 
poied to have done to day, do it if poflible to-morrow : 
And do not cut yourfelf out new work, till the former 
plan be difpatched ; unlefs you really judge it, not mere- 
ly more amufmg, but more important. And always re- 
member, that a fervant of Chrift fhould fee to it, that he 
determines on thefe occafions, as in his mailer's prefence. 

§.3. Guard alfo againft an excefiive love of fenfitive 
and animal pleafure, as that which will be a great hin- 
drance to you in that religious courfe, which I have now 
been urging. You cannot but know, that Chrift has told 
us, that * a man muft deny himfelf, and take up his crofs 
daily,' if he defires to ' become his difciple.' (c) Chrift, the 
Son of God, * the former and the heir of all things, pleaf- 
ed not himfelf ;' (d) but fubmitted to want, to difficul- 
ties, and hardfhips, in the way of duty, and fome of them 
of the extremeft kind and degree, for the glory of God 
^and the falvation of men. In this way we are to follow 
him ; and as we know not how foon we may be called, e- 
ven to * reftft unto blood ftriving againft fin,' (e) it is cer- 
tainly beft to accuftom ourfelves to that difcipline, which 
we may poffibly be called out to exercife, even in fuch 
rigorous heights. A foft and delicate life will give force 
to temptations, which might eafily be fubdued by one, 
who has habituated himfelf to ' endure hard lhip as a good 
fcldier of Jefus Chrift.' (f) It alfo produces an attachment 

t@ 

(c) Luke ix. 23. (ol) Rom. xv. 3. (e) Heb. xii. 4. 
(f) 2 Tim. ii. 3. * 






22 8 as leading to expetite and idknefs* Ch. 21 

to this World* and an unwillingnefs to leave it ; which ill 
becomes thofe who are ftrangers and pilgrims on earth, 
and who expect fo foon to be called away to ' that better 
country 7 which they * profefs to feek.' (g) Add to this, 
that what the world calls a life of pleafure, is neceffarily a 
life of expence too, and may perhaps lead you, as it has 
done many others, and efpecially many who have been 
fetting out in the world, beyond the limits which provi- 
dence has affigned ; and fo after a fhort courfe of indul- 
gence may produce proportionable want. And while in 
other cafes it is true, that pity ihould be fhewn to the 
poor, this is a poverty that is juftly contemptible, becaufe 
it is the effect cf a man's own folly ; and when your want 
thus * comes upon you as an armed man,' (h) you will 
not only find yourfelf {tripped of the capacity you might 
otherwife have fecured for performing thofe works of 
charity which arefo ornamental to a Chriftian profeffion, 
but probably will be under ftrong temptations to fome 
low artifice or mean compliance, quite beneath the Chrif- 
tian character, and that of an upright man. Many who 
once made a high profeffion, after a feries of much . forry 
and fcandalous Units, have fallen into the infamy of bank- 
rupts, and of the worft kind of bankrupts ; I mean fuch 
as have, lavifhed away on themfelves what was indeed the 
property of others, and fo have injured, and perhaps ru- 
ined the induftrious, to feed a fcoliih, luxurious, or of- 
tentatious humour, which while indulged v/as the fhame 
of their own families, and when it can be indulged no lon- 
ger is their torment. This will be a terrible reproach to 
religion : Such a reproach to it, that a good man would 
rather choofe to live on bread and water, or indeed to die 
for want of them, than to occafion it. 

§. 4. Guard therefore, I befeech you, againft any thing 
which might tend to that way, efpecially by diligence in 
bufmeis, and by prudence and frugality in expence; 
which, by the divine bleffing, may have a very happy in- 
fluence to make your affairs profperous, your health vigor-* 
ens, and your mind eafy. But this cannot be attained, 
without keeping a refolute watch over yourfelf, and ftren- 
souily refuling to comply with many propofals, which in- 
dolence 
(g) Heb. xi. 13— 16, (h) Prov* vi. 12. 



€h. 25 r. Hautions agalnfl the fnares of csmpany. 22$ 

dolence or fenfuality will ofTe? in very plaufible forms, and 
for which it will plead, " that it afks but Very little." 
Take heed, left in this refpect you imitate thofe fond pa- 
rents, who, by indulging their children in every little 
thing they have a mind to, encourage them, by infenfible 
degrees, to grow ftill more encroaching and imperious- 
in their demands ; as if they chofe to be ruined with them,, 
rather than to check them in what feems a trifle. Re- 
member and confider that excellent remark, fealed by the 
ruin of fo many thoufands : " He that defpifeth fmail 
things, fhall fall by little and little." 

§ 5. In this view, give me leave alfo ferioufly and 
tenderly to caution you, my dear reader,againft the fnares 
of vain company. I fpeak not, as before, of that com- 
pany, which is openly licentious and profane. I hope 
there is fomething now in your temper and views which 
would engage you to turn away from fuch with detefta* 
tion and horror. But I befeech you to confider, that 
thofe companions may be very dangerous who might at 
firft give you but very little alarm ; I mean thofe, who, 
though not the declared enemies of religion, and profeif- 
•ed followers of vice and diforder, yet neverthelefs have 
no practical fenfe of divine things on their hearts, fo far 
as can be judged by their conversation and behaviour. — 
You muft often of neceffity be with fuch perfons, and 
Chrirtianity not only allows, but requires, that you 
fhould, on all expedient occafions of intercourfe with 
them, treat them with civility and refpect ; but chufe not 
fuch for your mod intimate friends, and do not contrive 
to fpend moft of your leifure moments among them. — • 
For fuch converfe has a fenfible tendency to alienate the 
foul from God, and to render it Unfit for all fpiritual 
communion with him. To convince you of this, do but 
reflect on your own experience, when you have been for 
many hours together among perfons of fuch a character . 
Do you not find yourfelf more indifpofed for devotional 
«xercifes ! Do you not find your heart, by infenfible de- 
grees, more and more inclined to a conformity to this 
world, and to look with a fecret difrelim on tnofe objects 
and employments to which reafon directs as the nobleft 

and 



230 and the hurries of worldly bupnefs. Ch. 21* 

and the beft ? Obferve the firft fymptons, and guard a- 
gainft the fnare in time : and, for this purpofe, endeav- 
our to form iriendfhips founded in piety, and fupported 
by it. * Be a companion of them that " fear God, and 
of them that keep his precepts.' (i) You well know, 
that in the light of God * they are the excellent of the 
earth ;' let them therefore ' be all your delight.' (k) 
And that the peculiar benefit of their friendfhip may not 
be loft, endeavour to make the beft of the hours you 
fpend with them. The wifeft of men has obferved, that 
when ' council in the heart of a man is like deep wa- 
ters,' that is, * when it lies low and concealed, a man 
of underftanding will draw it out.' (1) Endeavour, 
therefore, on fuch occafions, fo far as you can do it with 
decency and convenience, to give the converfation a reli- 
gious turn. And .when ferious and ufeful fubjects are 
fiarted in your prefence, lay hold of them, and cultivate 
them ; and, for that purpofe, ' let the word of Chrift 
dwell richly in you,' (m) and be continually made 'the 
man of your counfel.' (n) 

§ 6. If itbe fo,it will fecureyounot only from the fnare s 
of idlenefs and luxury, but from the contagion of every 
bad example. And it will alfo engage you to guard a- 
gainft thofe-exceffive hurries of worldly bufmefs, which 
would rill up all your time and thoughts, and thereby 
* choke the good word of God, and render it in a great 
meafure, if not quite, unfruitful.' (o) Young people are 
generally of an enterprizing difpofitiori ; having experi- 
enced comparatively little of the fatigue of bufmefs, and 
of the difappointments and. incumbrances of life, they ea- 
iily fwallow them up, and annihilate them in their imag- 
ination, and fancy that their fpirit, their application and 
addrefs, will be able to encounter and furmount every 
obftacle or hindrance. But the event proves it other- 
wife. Let me intreat you, therefore, to be cautious 
how you plunge yourfelf into a greater variety of bufi- 
nefs than you are capable of managing as you ought, that 
is, in coniiftency with the care of your fouls, and the fer- 
vice of God ; which certainly ought not on any pretence 

to 

(i) Pfal. cxix. 6$. (k) Pfal. xvi. 3. (1) Prov. xx. 5. 
(m) Coh in. 1 6, (n) Pfal. cxrx. 24. (o) Mat. xiii. 22, 






Ch. 21. The folly of refolding to be rich, 231 

to be neglected. It is true indeed, that a prudent regard 
to your worldly intereft would require fuch a caution 5 
as is obvious to every careful obferver, _ that multitudes 
are undone by grafping at more than they can convenient- 
ly manage. Hence it has frequently been feen, that 
while they have feemed * refolved to be rich,' they have 
* pierced themfelves through with many forrows,' (p) 
have ruined their own families, and drawn down many 
others into defolation with them : whereas, could they 
have been contented with moderate employments, and 
moderate gains, they might have profpered in their bufi- 
nefs, and might, by fure degrees, under a divine bleffing, 
have advanced to a great and honorable increafe. But 
if there was no danger at all to be apprehended on this 
head ; if you were as certain of becoming rich and great 
as you are of perplexing and fatiguing yourfelf in the at- 
tempt ; confider, I befeech you ? how precarious thefe en- 
joyments are. Confider how often a ' plentiful table be- 
comes a fnare, and that which fhould have been for a 
man's welfare becomes a trap.' (q) Forget not that 
fhort lelTon, which is fo comprehenfive of the higheft wif- 
dom, * One thing is needful.' (r) Be daily thinking, 
while the gay and great things of life are glittering be- 
fore your eyes, how foon death will come and impover- 
ifh you at once ; how foon it will ftrip you of all pof- 
leffions but thofe which a naked foul can carry along 
with it into eternity, when it drops the body in the grave. 
Eternity ! eternity ! eternity i Carry the view of 
it about with you, if it be poffible, through every hour of 
waking life ; & be fully perfuaded that you have no bu- 
fmefs, no intereft in life, that is inconfiilent with it : for 
whatfoever would be injurious to this view, is not your 1 
bufinefs, is not your intereft. You fee indeed, that the 
generality of men act as if they thought the great thing 
which God required of them, in order to fecure his fa- 
vour, was to get as much of the world as- poffible ; at 
leaft as much as they can without any grofs immorality, 
and without rifking the lofs of all, for making a little ad- 
dition. And, as if it were to abet this defign, they tell 
others, and perhaps tell themfelves, they only feek oppor- 
tunities 
(p) 1 Tim. vi. 10. (q) Pfal. Mix. 22. (r) Luke 10. 42 



232 and fatal confequence of tU Ch. 21 

tunities of greater ufefulnefs, but, in effect, if they mean 
any thing more by this than a capacity of ufefulnefs, 
which, when they have it, they will not exert, they gener- 
ally deceive themfelves : and one way or another, it is a 
vain pretence. In moft inftances men feek the world, — 
either that they may hoard up riches for the mean and 
fcandalouslStisfadionof looking upon them while they 
are living, and of thinking, that when they are dead, it 
will be faid of them, that they have left fo many hun- 
dreds or thoufands of pounds behind them ; very pioba- 
bly to enfnare their children, or other heirs, (for the vani- 
ty is not peculiar to thofe who have children of their 
own : )— or elfe, that they may lavifh away their riches on 
their lufts, and drown themfelves in a gulph of fenfuality, 
in which, if reafon be not loft, religion is foon fwallowed 
up, and, with it, all the nobleft pleafures which can enter 
into the heart of man. In this view, the generality .of rich 
people appear to me objects of much greater companion 
than the poor ; efpecially as when both live (which is fre- 
quently the cafe) without any fear of God before their 
eyes, the rich abufe the greater variety and abundance of 
his favours, and therefore will probably feel, in that 
world of future ruin which awaits impenitent iinners, a 
more exquifite fenfe of their mifery. 

§ 7. And let me obferve to you, my dear reader, left 
you mould think yourfelf fecure from any fuch danger, 
that we have great reafon to apprehend there are many 
jiow in a very wretched ftate, who once thought feriouily 
Off religion when they were firft fetting out, in lower cir- 
cumftances of life, but they have fince forfaken God for 
mammon, and are now priding themfelves in thofe gold- 
en chains, which, in all probability, before it is long, will 
leave them to remain in thofe of darknefs. When, there- 
fore an attachment to the world may be followed with 
fuch fatal confequences, * let not thine heart envy tinners;' 
(s) and do not out of a defire of gaining what they 
have, be guilty of fuch folly, as to expofe yourfelf to this 
double danger of failing in the attempt, or of being un- 
done by the fuccefs of it. Contract your defires : endeav- 
or to be eafy and content with a little ; and if providence, 

call 
(s) Prov.xxui, 17, 



Ch. 21. A prayer to be hpt from thefe fnares . t%% 

call you out to act in a larger fphere, fubmit to it in obe- 
dience to providence ; but number it among the trials of 
life, which it will require a larger proportion of grace to 
bear well. For, be aflured, that as affairs, and intereft 
multiply, cares and duties will certainly increafe, and 
probably difappointments and forrows will increafe in an 
equal proportion. 

§ 8. On the whole, learn, by divine grace, to die to 
the prefent world ; to look upon it as a low ft ate of be* 
ing, which God never intended for the final and complete 
happinefs, or the fupreme care of any one of his chil- 
dren ; a world, where fomething is indeed to be enjoyed, 
but chiefly from himfelf ; where a great deal is to be 
borne with patience and refignation ; and where fome 
important duties are to be performed, and a courre of 
difcipline to be pafled through, by which you are to be 
formed for a better ftate : to which, as a Chriftiaii, you 
are near, and to which God will call you, perhaps on a 
fudden, but undoubtedly, if you hold on your way, in 
the fitteft time and the moft convenient manner. Refer, 
therefore, all this to him. Let your hopes and fears, 
your expectations and defires, with regard to this world 
be kept as low as poflible ; and all your thoughts be u- 
nited, as much as may be, in this one centre, what it is 
that God would, in prefent circumftances, have you to 
be ; and what is that method of conduct by which you 
may moft effectually pleafe and glorify him I 



AGAINST THE DANGER OF THESE SNARES. 

« BLESSED God ! in the midft often thoufandfnaresand 
dangers, which furround me from without and from within, 
permit me to look up unto thee with my humble entreaty, 
that thou wouldft * deliver me from them that rife up a- 
gainft me,' (t) and that * thine eyes may be upon me 
for good !' (Ai) Whenfloth and indolence are xeady to 
feize me, awaken me from that idle dream with lively and 
affectionate views of that invifible and eternal world tp 
Which I am tending ! Remind me of what infinite im- 

u portance 

(t) Pfel. Ja. j. (u) Jer, *xiv. 6. 



2.34 A prayer to be kept from thefe fnares. Cli. 21, 

portance it is that I dilig-eiitly improve thofe tranfient mo- 
ments which thou haft allotted to me as the time of my 
preparation for it ! 

"When Vfmners entice me/ may I ' not confentl' (x) 
May holy converfe with God give me a difreliih for the 
con verfe of thofe who are ftrangers to thee, and who 
would feparate my foul from thee ! May * I honour 
them that fear the Lord ;> fy) and" walking with fuch 
wife and holy men, may I find I am daily advancing in 
wifdom and holinefs V (z; Quicken me, O Lord, by 
their means : that by me thou mayeft alfo quicken oth- 
ers ! Make me the happy inftrument of enkindling and 
animating the flame of divine love in their breads : and 
may it catch from heart to heart, and grow every mo- 
ment in its progrefs ! 

" Guard me, O Lord, from the love of fenfual pieafure ! 
May I ferioufly remember, that * to be carnally minded 
is death!' (a) May it pleafe thee, therefore, to purify 
and refine my foul by the influences of thine Holy Spirit, 
that I may always fhun unlawful gratifications more fo- 
licitoufly than others p'urfue them ; and that thofe indul- 
gences of animal nature, which thou haft allowed, and 
which the constitution of things renders neceffary, may be 
ibberly and moderately ufed I May I ftill remember the 
fuperior dignity of my fpiritualand intelligent nature, and 
may the pleafui-es of the man and the Ghriftian be fought 
as my nobleft happinefs ! May my foul rife on the wings 
of holy contemplation, to the regions of invifible glory : 
and may I be endeavouring to form myfelf, under the in- 
fluences of divine grace, for the entertainments of thofe an- 
gelic fpirits, that live in thy prefence in a happy incapaci- 
ty of thofe grofs delights by which fpirits dwelling in flefh 
are fo often enfnared, and in which they fo often lofe the 
memory of their high original, and of thofe noble hopes 
which alone are proportionable to it ! 

" Give me, O Lord, to know the ftation in which thou 
had fixed me, and fteadily to purfue the duties of it ! But 
deliver me from thofe exceflive cares of this world, which 
would (o engrofs my time and my thoughts, that the one 

thing 
• (x) Prov, i. io, (y) Pfal. xv. 4. (2) Prov. xjii, 20. 
I (aj-Rom. viii. 6, 



Ch. 22. Declenfions in religion to be feared. 235 

thing needful mould be forgotten ! May my defires after 
worldly pofTeffions be moderated, by coniidering their un- 
certain and unfatisfying nature ; and while otheis are lay- 
ing up treafures on earth, may I be 'rich towards God !' 
(bj May I never be too bufy to attend to thofe great af- 
fairs, which lie between thee and my foul ; never be fo 
engrofled with the concerns of time, as to neglect the in- 
terefts of eternity ! May I pafs through earth with my heart 
and hope fet upon heaven,and feel the attractive influence 
ftronger and ilronger, as I approach ftill nearer and nearer 
to that defirable centre : till the happy moment come, 
when every earthly object mail difappear from my view, 
and the ihining glories of the heavenly world mail fill my 
improved and ftrengthened light, which mail then be chear- 
ed with that which would now overwhelm me ! Amen." 
(b) Luke xii. 21. 



CHAP. XXII. 

THE CASE OF SPIRITUAL DECAY AND LANGOUR IN 
RELIGION. 

Declenfions in religion, and relapfes into Jin with their for roivful 
confequences, are in the general too probable. §. 1. The 
cafe of declevjion and languor in religion defcribed, negatively ; 
§. 2. and pofitively ; §. 3. as dif covering itfeff. (1.) By 
a failure in the duties of the do fet. §; 4. (2.) By a ne~ 
gletl of facial nvorfhip. §. 5. (3.) By want of love to our 
fellow chrijlians. §.6. (4.) By an undue attachment te 
fenfual pleafures, or fecular cares. §. 7. (5.) By preju- 
dices againfl fume important principles in religion : §.8. A 
fymptom peculiarly fad and dangerous. ^. 9, 10. Direclions 
for recovery. §. 11. immediately to be purfued. §. 12. A 
prayer for one under fpiritual decays. 

IF I am fo happy as to prevail upon you ia 
the exhortations and cautions I have given, you will pro- 
bably 



236 Spiritual decay will dif cover itfetf Ch. 22 

bably go on with pleafure and comfort in religion ; and 
your path will generally be * like the morning light, which 
fhineth more and more until the perfect day.' (a) Yet I 
dare not flatter myfelf with an expectation of fuch fuccefs, 
as fhall carry you above thofe varieties in temper, conduct 
and ftate, which have been more or lefs the complaint of 
the belt of men. Much do I fear, that how warmly foe- 
ver your heart may now be impreifed with the representa- 
tion I have been making, tho' the great objects of your 
faith and hope continue unchangeable, your temper to- 
wards them will be changed. Much do I fear, that you 
will feel your mind languifh and tire in the good ways, of 
God ; nay, that you may be prevailed upon to take fome 
ftep out of them, and may thus fall a prey to fome of thofe 
temptations, which you now look upon with a holy fcorn. 
The probable confequence of this will be, that God will 
Tiide his face from you ; that he will ftretch forth his af- 
flicting hand againft you ; and that you will ftill fee your 
sorrowful moments, how chearfully foever you may now 
be * rejoicing in the Lord, and joying in the God of your 
falvation/ (b) I hope, therefore, it may be of fome fer- 
vice, if this too probable event mould happen, to confider 
thefe cafes a little more particularly : And I heartily 
pray, that God would make what I fhall fay concerning 
them, the means of reftoring, comforting, and ftrength- 
ening your foul, if he ever fuifers you in any degree to 
deviate from him. 

§. 2. We will firft confider the cafe of fpiritual declen* 
fions, and languor in religion. And here I defire, that, 
before I proceed any farther, you would obferve, that I do 
not comprehend under this head every abatement of that 
fervour, which a young convert may find, when he firft 
becomes experimentally acquainted with divine things. 
Our natuies are fo framed, that the novelty of objects 
ftrikes them in fomething of a peculiar manner : Not to 
urge, how much more eafily our paflions are impreiTed in 
the earlier years of life, than when we are more advanced 
in the journey of it. This, perhaps, is not fufficiently con- 
fidered. Too great a ftrefs is commonly laid on the flcfcv 
of affections ; and for want of this a Chriftian who is ri- 
pened 
(a) Prov. iv. 18, (b) Hab. iii. 18. 






Ch. 22. by a failure in the duties of the clofeL 257 

pened in grace, and greatly advanced in his preparation 
for glory, may fometimes be ready to lament imaginary 
rather than real decays, and to fay, without any juft foun- 
dation, * O that it were with me as in months paft !' (c) 
Therefore you can hardly be too frequently told, that 
religion confifts chiefly, " in the refolution of the will for 
God, and in a conftant care to avoid whatever we are per- 
fuaded he would difapprove, to difpatch the work he has 
affigned us in life, and to promote his glory in the hap- 
pinefs of mankind." To this we are chiefly to attend, 
looking in all to the fimplicity and purity of thofe motives 
from which we act, which we know are chiefly regarded 
by that God who fearches the heart ; humbling ourfelves 
before him at the fame time under a fenfe of our many 
imperfections, and flying to the blood of Chrift and the 
grace of the gofpel. 

§. 3. Having given this precaution, I will now a little 
more particularly defcribe the cafe, which I call the (late 
of a Chriftian who is declining in religion; fo far as it does 
not fall in with thofe, which I fhall confider in the follow- 
ing chapters. And I muft obferve, that it chiefly con=>. 
fifts "in a forgetfulnefs of divine objects, and a remiifnefs 
in thofe various duties to which we ftand engaged by that 
folemn furrender which we have made of ourfelves to the 
fervice of God." There will be a variety of fymptomsj 
according to the different circumftances and relations in 
which the Chriftian is placed ; but fome will be of a 
more univerfal kind. It will be peculiarly proper to touch 
on thefe ; and fo much the rather, as thefe declenfions are 
often unobferved, like the grey hairs, which were ' upon 
Ephraim when he knew it not.' (d) 

§. 4. Should you, my good reader, fall into this ftate, 
it will probably firft difcover itfelf, by a failure in the du- 
ties of the clofet. Not that I fuppofe, they will at firft, 
or certainly conclude, that they will at all, be wholly o- 
mitted : But they will be run over in a cold and formal 
manner. Sloth, or fome of thofe other fnares which I 
cautioned you againft in the former chapter, will fo far 
prevail upon you, that though perhaps you know and re- 
collect, that the proper feafon of retirement is come, you 

, v „ . '• will 
(c) Job xxix. 2. (d) Hof. vii. 9. 



23 5 There <wlM be a ne%h8 of foc'ial duties, Ch. 22, 

will fometimes indulge yourfelf upon your bed in the 
morning, fometimes in converfation or bufmefs in the e- 
vening, fo as not to have convenient time for it. Or per- 
haps, when you come into your clofet at that feafon, fome 
favourite book you are defirous to read, fome correfpon- 
dence that you chufe to carry on, or fome other amufe- 
ment will prefent itfelf, and plead to be difpatched firft. 
This will probably take up more time than you imagined : 
and then, fecret prayer will be hurried over, and perhaps 
reading the fcripture quite negle&ed. You will plead 
perhaps, that it is but for once ; but the fame allowance 
will be made a fecond and a third time ; and it will grow 
more eafy and familiar to you each time, than it was the 
laft. And thus God will be mocked, and your own foul 
will be defrauded of its fpiritual meals, if I maybe allow- 
ed the expreflion j the word of God will be flighted, and 
felf examination quite difufed ; and fecret prayer itfelf 
will grow a burthen, rather than a delight ; a trifling ce- 
remony, rather than a devout homage fit for the accep- 
tance of our father who is in heaven. 

§• $» If immediate and refolute meafures be not taken 
for your recoverv from thefe decleniions, they will fpread 
farther, and reach the acts offocial worihip. You will 
feel the effect in your families, and in public ordinances. 
And if you do not feel it, the fymptoms will be fo much 
the worfe. Wandering thoughts will (as it were) eat out 
the very heart of thefe duties. It is not, I believe, the 
priviledge of the moft eminent Chriflians, to be entirely 
free from them : But probably in thefe circumftances, 
you will find but few intervals of ftrict attention, or of 
any thing, which wears the appearance of inward devotion. 
And when thefe heartlefs duties are concluded, there will 
fcarce be a reflection made, how little God hath been en- 
joyed in them, how little he hath been honoured by them. 
Perhaps the facrament of the Lord's fupper, being fo ad- 
mirably adapted to fix the attention of the foul, and to ex- 
cite its warmed exercife of holy affections, may be the laft 
ordinance in which thefe declenfions may be felt. And 
yet, who can fay, that the facred table is a priviledged 
place ! Having been unneceffarily ftraitened in your pre- 
parations, you will attend with lefs fixednefs and enlarge* 

mens 



Ch. 22. and an undue attachment to the world. 239 

merit of heart than ufual. And perhaps a difTatisfaction 
in the review, when there has been a remarkable aliena- 
tion or infenfibility of mind, may occafion a difpofition 
to forfake your place and your duty there. And when 
your fpiritual enemies have once gained this point upon 
you, it is probable you will fall by fwifter degrees than 
ever,and your refinance to their attempts will grow weak- 
er and weaker. 

§. 6. When your love to God our father, and to the 
Lord Jems Chrift, fails, your fervour of Chriftian affection 
to your brethren in Chrift will propcrtionably decline, 
and your concern for ufefulnefs in life abate ; efpecially, 
where any thing is to be done for fpiritual edification. 
You will find one excufe or another, for the neglect of 
religious difcourfe, perhaps not only among neighbours 
and chriftian friends, when very convenient opportunities 
offer ; but even with regard to thofe, who are members of 
your own families, and to thofe, who, if you are fixed in 
thefuperiour relations .of life, are commited to your care. 

§. 7. With this remiflnefs, an attachment, either to 
fenfual pleafure, or to worldly bufmefs, will increafe. For 
the foul muft have fomething to employ it, and fomething 
to delight itfelf in : And as it turns to one or the other of 
thefe, temptations of one fort or another will prefent 
themfelves. Infome inftances, perhaps the ftricteft bounds 
of temperance, and the regular appointments of life may 
be broken in upon, through a fondnefs for company, and 
the entertainments which often attend it. In ether inftan- 
ces, the interefts of life appearing greater than they did 
before, and taking up more of the mind, contrary interefts 
of other perfects may throwyou into difquietude, or plunge 
you in debate and contention ; in which it is extremely 
difficult to preferve, either the ferenity, or the innocence 
of the foul. And perhaps, if minifters and other chriftian 
friends obferve this, and endeavour in a plain and faithful 
way, to reduce you from your wandring, a falfe delicacy 
of mind, often contracted in fuch a ftate as this, will ren- 
der thefe attempts extremely difagreeable. The ulcer 
of the foul (if I may be allowed the expreftion,) will not 
bear being touched, when it moft needs it ; and one of the 
raoft generous and felf-denying inftances of chriftian 

' friendfhip 



£$o Prejudices *iviU he formed ' m the mind, Ch, 2*2 » 

friendfhip fliall be turned into an occafion of coldnefs and 
diftafte, yea perhaps of enmity. 

§. 8. And poflibly, to fum up all, this difordered ftate 
of mind may lead you into fome prejudices againft thole 
very principles, which might be moft effectual for your re- 
covery : And your great enemy may fucceed fo far in 
his attempts againft you, as to perfuade you, that you 
have loft nothing in religion, when you have loft almoft all. 
He may very probably lead you to conclude, that your 
former devotional frames were meer fits of enthufiafm ; 
and that the holy regularity of your walk before God 
was an unnecefTary ftrictnefs and icrupulofity. Nay, you 
may think it a great improvement in underftanding," that 
you have learnt from fome new mafters, that if a man treat 
his fellow-creatures with humanity and good nature, 
judging and reviling only thofe who would difturb others 
by the narrownefs of their notions, (for thefe are general- 
ly exempted from other objects of the moft univerfal and 
difmterefted benevolence fo often boafted of,) he muft ne- 
cefiarily be in a very good ftate, though he pretend not 
to converfe much with God, provided that he thinks re- 
fpectfully of him, and do not provoke him by any grofs 
immoralities, 

§. 9. I mention this in the laft ftage of religious He- 
clenfions, becaufe I apprehend that to be its proper place ; 
and I fear, it will be found by experience to ftand upon 
the very confines of that grofs apoftacy into deliberate and 
prefumptuous fin, which will claim our confi deration un- 
der the next head : And becaufe too, it is that fymptom, 
which moft effectually tends to prevent the fuccefs, and 
even the ufe, of any proper remedies in confequence of a 
fond and fatal apprehenilon. that they are needlefs. It is, 
if I may borrow the fimile, like thofe fits of lethargick 
drowfmefs, which often precede apoplexies and death. ' 

§. 10. It is by no means my defign at this time to 
reckon up, much lefs to confider at large, thofe dangerous 
principles, which are now ready to poffefs the mind, and 
to lay the foundation of a falfe and treacherous peace. In- 
deed they are in different inftances various, and fometimes 
run into oppofite extremes. But if God awakens you to 
read your bikle with attention, and gives you to feel the 

fpirit 



Ch. 22* Prejudices will be formed in tie mhid, 34 jj 

fpirit with which it is written, almoft every page will 
flafh in conviction upon the mind, and fpread a light to 
icatter and difperfe thefe fhades of darknefs. 

§. 11. What I chiefly intend in this addrefs, is to en- 
gage you, if pomble, asfoon as you perceive the -firft fymp- 
toms of thefe declenfions, to be upon your guard, and to 
endeavour as fpeedily as poffible to recover yourfelf from 
them. And I would remind you, that the remedy rauft 
begin where the firft caufe of complaint prevailed, I mean, 
in the clofet. Take fome time for recollection, and afk 
your own confcience ferioufly, how matters ftand between 
the blelfed God and your foul ? Whether they are as they 
■once were, and as you could wiih them to be, if you faw 
your life juft drawing to a period, and were to pafs imme- 
diately into the eternal ftate ? One ferious thought of eter- 
nity fhames a thoufand vain excufes, with which, in the 
forgetfulnefs of it, we are ready to delude our own fouls. 
And when you feel that fecret mifgiving of heart, which 
will naturally arife on this occafion, do not endeavour to 
palliate the matter, and to find outflight and artful coverings 
for what you cannot forbear fecretly condemning ; but 
honeftly fall under the conviction, and be humbled for it. 
Pour out your heart before God, and feek the renewed 
influences of his fpirit and grace. Return with more ex- 
•actnefs to fecret devotion, and to felf-examination. Read 
the fc rip ture with yet greater diligence, and efpeci ally the 
more devotional and fpiritual parts of it. Labour to 
ground it in your heart, and to feel what you have reafon 
to believe the facred penmen felt when they Wrote, fo far 
as the circumftances may agree. Open your foul with all 
fimplicity, to every leffon which the word of God would 
teach you ; and guard againft thofe things, which you- 
perceive to alienate your mind from inward religion, tho' 
there be nothing criminal in the things themfelves. They 
may, perhaps, in the general be lawful ; to fome, poflibly» \ 
they may be expedient ; but if they produce fuch an effect^ 
as was mentioned above, it is certain they are not conve- 
nient for you. In thefe circumftances, above all, feek the j 
converfe of thofe Chriftians whofeprogrefs in religion (kerns 
moft remarkable, and who adorn their profeffion in the 
xnoft amiable manner. Labour to obtain their temper 

W and 



244 dprayer for one under fpirltual dczayi» Ch. 22* 

2nd fentiments, and lay open your cafe and your heart to 
them with all the freedom which prudence will permit. 
Employ yourfelfat feafons of leifure in reading practical 
and devotional books, in which the mind^ and heart 
of the pious author is transfufed into the work, and in 
which you can { as it were' tafte the genuine fpirit of 
chriftianity. And, to conclude, take the firft opportunity 
that prefents of making an approach to the table of 
the Lord, and fpare neither time nor pains in the moft 
ferious preparation for it. There renew your covenant 
with God : put your foul anew into the hand of Chrift, 
and endeavour to view the wonders of his dying love in 
fuch a manner as' may rekindle the languifhing flame, and 
quicken you to more vigorous refolutions than ever, ' to 
live unto him who died for you.' (e) And watch over 
your own heart, that the good impremons you then feel, 
may continue. Reft not, till you have obtained as con* 
firmed a ftate in religion, as you ever knew. Reft not, 
till you have made a greater progrefs than before : For 
it is certain, more is yet behind ; and it is only by a zeal to 
go forward, that you can be fecure from the danger of 
going backward, and of revolting more and more. 

§. 12. I only add, that it is neceffary to take thefe pre- 
cautions as foon as pofhble ; or you will probably find a 
much fwifter progrefs than you are aware in the down- 
hill road : and you may poffibly be left of God, to fall in- 
to fome grofs and aggravated fin, fo as to fill your con- 
fcience with an agony and horror, which the pain of. 
6 broken bones' (f ) can but imperfectly exprefs. 

^Prayer for one underfphitual decays* 

" ETERNAL and unchangeable Jehovah ! Thy per- 
fections and glories are,, like thy being, immutable. Jefus 
thy fon is \ the fame yefterday, to day, and forever.' (g) 
Theeternalworldto which lam haftening, is always equal- 
ly important, and preifes upon the attentive raand for a 
more fixed and folemn regard, in proportion to the degree 
in which it comes neaier and nearer. But, alas, my views, 
and my affections, and my beft refolutions are continual- 
ly 
(e) a Cor. v. 15. (f) .Pfal. li. 8. (g) Heb. xiii. %< 



Ch. 22. A prayer for one under fpirlttial decays* 245 

ly varying, like this poor body, which goes through daily 
and hourly alterations in its ftate and circumftances. 
Whence, O Lord, whence this fad change, which I now 
experience, in the frame and temper of my mind towards 
thee ? Whence this alienation of my foul from thee ? Why 
can I not come to thee with all the endearments of filial 
love, as I once could ? Why is thy fervice fo remifly at- 
tended, if attended at all ! and why are the exercifes of 
it, which were once my greateft pleafure, become a bur- 
then to me ? * Where, O God, is the bleflednefs I once fpake 
of,' (h) when my joy in thee as my heavenly father was 
fo conspicuous, that ftrangers might have obferved it ; 
and when my heart did fo overflow with love to thee, and 
with zeal for thy fervice, that it was matter of felf denial 
to me, to limit and reftrain the genuine expreflions of thofe 
llrong emotions of my foul even where prudence and duty 
required it ? 

" Alas, Lord, whither am I fallen ! Thine eye-fees me 
ftill; but O how unlike what it once faw me ? Cold and 
infenfible as I am, I muft blufh on tke reflection^— - Thou 
' feeft me in fecret : ' (i ) and feeft me, perhaps, often amuf- 
ing myfelf with trifles in thofe feafons, which I ufed fo- 
lemnly to devote to thine immediate fervice. Thou feeft 
me, coming into thy prefence as by conilraint ; and, when 
I am before thee, fo ftraitened in my fpirit,that I hardly 
know what to fay to thee, though thou art the God witlt 
whom I h ave to do, and though the keeping up an hum- 
ble and dutiful correfpondence with thee, beyond all com- 
parison the moft important bufinefs of my life. And e- 
ven when I am fpeaking to thee, with, how much cold- 
nefs and formality is it ? . It is, perhaps, the work of the 
imagination, the labour of the lips : But where are thofe 
ardent defires, thofe intenfe breathings after God, which X 
once felt : Where is that pleafmg repofe in thee, which I 
was once confcious of, as being near my divine reft, as be- 
ing happy in that nearnefs, and refolying that if poflible 
I would no more be removed from it ! But O, how far 
am I now removed ? When thefe lhort devotions, if they 
may be called devotions, are over, in which long inter- 
vals do I forget thee, and appear fo little animated with 

thy 
(h) Gal. iv. 15, (i) Mat, vi, 6, 



Z\6 A* prayer for one under fpiriiual decays., Ch. ZZ-*. 

thy love, fo little devoted to thy fervice, and a ftranger 
might converfe with me a confiderable time, without 
knowing that I had ever formed any acquaintance with 
thee, without difcovering that I had fo much as known 
or heard any thing of God ?— Thou calleft me to thine 
houfe, O Lord, on thine own day ? but how heartlefs are 
my fervice s there ? I offer thee no more than a caicafe. 
My thoughts and affections are engroffed with other ob- 
jects, while I * draw near thee with my mouth, and honour 
thee with my lips.' ; k)— Thou calleft me to thy table j but 
my heart is fo frozen, that it hardly melts even at the foot 
of the crofs ; hardly feels any efficacy in the blood of Je-. 
fus. O wretched creature that I am ! Unworthy of be- 
ing called thine ! Unworthy of a place among thy chil- 
dren, or of the meanefl fitaation in thy family ; rather wor 
thy to be cart out, to he forfaken, yea, to be utterly de- 
ftroyed ! 

"Is this, Lord, the fervice, which I once promifed, 
and which thou hail fo many thoufand reafons to expect I 
Are thefe the returns I am making, for thy daily provk 
dential care, for the facrifice of thy fon, for the commu*. 
nications of thy fpirit, for the pardon of my numberlefs 
aggravated fins, for the hopes, the undeferved and fo of- 
ten forfeited hopes. of eternal glory I Lord, I am afhamed 
to ftand, or to kneel before thee. But pity me, I befeech 
thee, and help me : For I am a pitiable object indeed !; 
* My foul cleaveth unto the duft,' and lays itfelf as. in the 
duft before thee ; but, O 'quicken me, according to thy- 
word ¥ ( 1 ) Let me trifle no longer, for I am npqn the 
brink of a precipice ! I am l thinking, of my ways,' O 
give me, grace to * turn my feet unto thy teftimonies ; to. 
make haiie, without any farther delay, that I may keep 
thy commandments !' (m) ' Search me, O Lord, and try 
me !' (n) Go to the firft root of this diftemper, which, 
fpreads itfelf over my foul ; and recover me from it ! Re- 
prefent fin unto me, O- Lord, I befeech thee, that I may- 
fee it with abhorrence ! And reprefent the Lord Jefus 
Chriit. to me, in fuch a light, that I may ' look upon him 
and mourn/ (o) that I may look upon him and love I 

May 

(k) IfaL xxix. 13. (1) Pfal. cxix. 25. (m) Pfal. cxix*. 
59, 60. (n) Pfal, cxxxix. 23. (o) Zech. xii. IQ^ 



Gh. 2j. The cafe of a retapfe info known fitu 24^ 

May I awaken from this ftupid lethargy, into which I am- 
linking : and may Chriit give me more abundant degrees 
©f fpiritual life and activity, than I have ever yet received ! 
And may I be fo quickened and animated by him, that I 
may more than recover the ground I have loft, and may 
make a more fpeedy and exemplary progrefs, than in my 
beft days I have ever yet done ! Send down upon me, O 
Lord, in a more rich and abundant effufion, *' thy good 
fpirit ! May he dwell in me, as in a temple which he has 
confecrated to himfelf ;' (p) and while all the fervice is 
directed and governed by him* may ' holy and acceptable 
facrifiees be continually offered' ! (q) May the incenfe be 
conftant, and may it be fragrant ! May the facred fire 
burn and blaze perpetually ;' (r) and may none cf its ve£ 
fels ever be profaned, by being employed to an unholy or 
forbidden ufe ? Amen." 

(p) 1 Cor. iii, 16. (q) Rom. xii. 1. (r) Lev. vu 13* 



C H A P. XXIIL 

THE SAD CASE OF A RELAPSE INTO KNOWN AND DELI£» 
BERATE SIN, AFTER SOLEMN ACTS OF DEDICATION 
TO GOD, ANH SOME PROGRESS MADE IN RELI- 
GION* 

Unthought of relapfes may happm. §. 1. and bring the foul 
into amiferalle cafe, \. 2. Yet the cafe is not defperate. §. 
3. The baclflider urged immediately to return : (1.) By deep 
humiliation Before God for fo aggravated an offence. §. 4. 
(2.) By renewed regards to the divine mercy in Chrift, §.5. 
(3.) By an open profefjton of repent ance r where the crime 
hath given public offence, §. 6* (4.) Falls to be reviewed 
for future caution. §.j. The chapter concludes,. $. 8. with 
a pray erf or the ufe of one who hath f alien into grofs fins, after 
religious rifolutions and engagements. 

x j '"THE declenfions which I have defcribed in the 

y * - * foregoing chapter, jmjft be acknowledged 

W worthy 



248 The fad dijirefs it will be attended ivifk* Ch. 2j a 

worthy of deep lamentation : But happy will you be, my 
dear reader, if you never know, by experience, a circum- 
ftance, yet more melancholy than this. Perhaps, when 
you confider the view of things which you now have, you 
imagine that no confiderations can ever bribe you, in any 
ilngle inflance, to act: contrary to the* prefent dictates or 
fuggeftions of your confcience, and of the ipirit of God as 
fetting it on work. No : You think it would be better 
for you to die. And you think rightly. But Peter thought 
and faid fo too : ' Though I ihould die with thee, yet will 
I not deny thee:' (a^ And yet, after all, he fell : And 
therefore* be not high-minded, but fear.' (b) It is not 
impoffible, but you may fall into that very fin, of which 
you imagine you are leaft in danger, or into that againft 
which you have moft folemnly refolved, and of which you 
have already moft bitterly repented. You may relapfe 
into it again and again. But O, if you do, nay, if you 
ihould deliberately and prefumptuoufly fall but once, 
how deep will it pierce your heart ? How dear will you 
pay for all the pleafure, with which the temptation has 
been bated ? How will this feparate between God and 
you ? What a defolation, what a dreadful defolation, will 
it fpread over your foul ? It is grievous to think of it. 
Perhaps in fuch a ftate you may feel more agony and dif- 
trefs in your own confcience, when you come feriouily to 
reflect, than you ever felt when you were firit awakened 
and reclaimed ; becaufe the fin will be attended with fome 
very high aggravations, beyond thofe of your unregene- 
rate ft ate. I well knew theperfon, that faid, * The ago- 
nies of a fmner in the firft. pangs of his repentance were 
not to be mentioned on the fame day, with thofe of the 
backflider in heart, when he comes to be filled with his own 
way.' (c) 

^. 2. Indeed it is enough to wound one's heart to think, 
how yours will be wounded : How all your comforts, all 
your evidences, all your hopes will be clouded : What 
thick darknefs will fpread itfelf on every fide, fo that nei- 
ther fun, nor moon, nor ftars, will appear in your heaven. 
Your fpiritual confolations will be gone ; and your tem- 
poral enjoyments will alfo be rendered taftelefs and infipid. 

And 
(a) Mat. xxvi. 35. (b) Ron> xj. 20, (c) Prov, *iv, 14. 



Ch. 23. The bachjlidcr in fuch a cafe is urged 249 

And if afflictions be fent, as they probably may in order to 
raclaim you, a confcioumefs of guilt will fharpen and in- 
venom the dart. Then will the enemy of your foul with 
all his art and power rife up againft you, encouraged by 
your fall, and labouring to trample you down in utter 
hopelefs ruin. Ke will perfuade you, that you are alrea- 
dy undone beyond recovery. He willfuggeft, that it fig- 
nirles nothing to attempt it any more ; for that every ef- 
fort, every amendment, every act of repentance, will but 
make your cafe, fo much the worfe, and plunge you lower 
and lower into hell. 

§. 3. Thus will he endeavour by terrors to keep you 
from that fure remedy, which yet remains. But yield not 
to him. Your cafe will indeed be fad ; and if it be now 
your cafe, it is deplorably fo ; and to reft in it would ftill 
be much worfe. Your heart would be hardened yet more 
and more ; and nothing could be expected, but fudden 
and aggravated deftruction. Yet bleifed be God, it is not 
quite hopelefs. * Your wounds are corrupted, becaufe of 
your foolifhnefs ;' (d) but the gangrene is not incurable. 
' There is balm in Gilead, there is a phylician there.' (e) 
Do not therefore render your condition indeed hopelefs, 
by now faying, * there is no hope,' (f) and drawing a fa- 
tal argument from that falfe fuppofition for going after 
the idols you have loved.. Let me addrefs you, in the 
language of God to his backfliding people, when they 
were ready to apprehend that to be their cafe, and to 
draw fuch a concluiion from it : ' Only return unto me 
faith the Lord.' (g) Cry for renewed grace ; and in the 
ftrength of it labour to return. Cry with David, under 
the like guilt : * I have gone aftray like a loft fheep, feek 
thy fervant ; for I do not forget thy commandments ;* 
(h) and that remembrance of them is, I hope, a token 
for good. But if thou wilt return at all, do it immedi- 
ately. Take not one ftep more in that fatal path, to which 
thou haft turned afide. Think not to add one fin more 
to the account, and then to repent ; as if it would be but 
the fame thing on the whole. The fecond error may be 
worfe than the firft ; it may make way for another and 

another 
(d) Pfal. xxxviii. 5. (e( Jer. viii. 22. (f j Jer. ii, 25, 
(g) Jer. iii. j, 13, (h) Pfal. caix. 176. 



2jo to an Immediate andfotemn return, Cfi. 2fr 

another, and draw on a terrible train of eonfequences* be* 
yond all you can now imagine. * Make hafte therefore, 
and do not delay. Efeape, and fly, as for thy life,' (i^ 
before ' the dart ftrike through thy liver,' (kj ' Give not 
fleep to thine eyes,: nor flumber to thine eye-fids:' (1) Lie- 
not down upon thy bed under unpardoned guilt, left evil 
overtake thee, left the fword of divine j.uftice lhall fmite 
thee ; and wh-ilfl: thou purpofeft to return to-morrow, 
thou fhouldft this night go and take pofTenion of hell. 

§. 4. Return immediately ; and permit me to add, re- 
turn folemnly^ Some very pious and excellent divines 
have expreiled themfelves upon this head, in a manner 
which feems liable to dangerous abufe ; when they urge 
men after a fall, " not to ftay tofurvey the : ground, nor to 
confider how they came to be thrown down, but immedi- 
ately to get up and renew the race." In fb'ghter cafes, the 
advice is good : But when confcience has fuffered fuch 
vfolent outrage by the commiffion of known, wilful and 
deliberate fin, (a cafe, which one would hope, fhould but 
ieldorn happen to thofe who have once fmcerely entered' 
on a religious eourfe,) I can by no means think, that either 
reafon or fcripture encourage fuch a method-. Efpeci- 
ly would it be improper, if the action itferf has been of fo 
heinous a nature, that even to have fallen into it on the 
moft fudden furprize of temptation muft greatly have a- 
fhamed, and terrified, and diftreffed the foul. Such an af- 
fair is dreadfully folemn, and fhould be treated accor- 
dingly. If this has been the fad cafe with you, my then; 
unhappy reader, I would pity you, and mourn over you ; 
and would befeech- you, as you tender your peace, your, 
recovery, the health and the very life of your foul, that 
youwouidnotloiterawayanhour. Retire immediately for 
ferious reflection. Break through other engagements ^em- 
ployments unlefs they be fuchas you cannot in eonfciencede- 
layfora few hours, which canfeldom happeninthe circum- 
ftance I now fuppofe. This is the one thing needful. Set 
yourfelf to it, therefore, as in the prefence of God* and 
liear at large patiently and humbly what confcience has to 
fay, though it chide and reproach feverely. Yea, earneftly 
pray, that God would fpeak to you by confcience and 

make 
(i) Gea. six. 17. (k). Prov. vix. 23, (1} Prov,- vi. 4. 



Ch. 23. New application to he made to £hr\Jl\ 2^1 

make you more thoroughly to know and feel, 'what an e- 
vil and bitter thing it is, that you have thus forfaken him.' 
(m) Think of all the aggravating eircumftanees attend- 
ing your offence ; and efpecially think of thofe, which 
arife from abufed mercy and goodnefs ; which arife, not. 
only from your folemn vows, and engagements to God,. 
but from the views you have had of a redeemer's love, 
fealed even in blood.. And are thefe the returns ? Was 
it not enough, that Chrift fhould have been ' thus injured 
by his enemies ?' muft he be ' wounded in the houfe of 
his friends' too ? (n) Were you 'delivered to work fuch 
abominations as. thefe ?' (o) Bid the bleffed Jefus groan, 
and die for you, that you might fin with boldnefs and free- 
dom, that you might extracT:, as it were, the very fpirit 
and effence of fin, and offend God to a height of ingratitude 
and bafenefs, which would otherwife have been in the nature 
©f things impoflible ? O think, how juftly God might caft 
you out from his prefence ? How juftly he might number 
you among the mod fignal inftances of his vengeance ! 
And think, how ' your heart would endure, and your 
tands be ftrong, if he fhould deal thus with you !' (p} 
Alas, all your former experiences would enhance your 
fenfe of the ruin and mifery, that muft be felt in an eter« 
nal banifhment from the divine prefence and favour. 

$. 5. Indulge fuch reflections as thefe. Stand the bum- 
bling fight of your fins in fuch a view as this. The more 
odious and the more painful it appears, the greater prof- 
pecl there will be of' your benefit by attending to it. But 
the matter is not to reft here.. All thefe reflections are 
intended not to grieve, but to cure ; and to grieve no. 
more, than may promote the cure. You are indeed to- 
look upon fin : But you are alio, in fuch a circumftance, 
if ever, to ' look upon Chrift ; to look upon him, whom 
you have now pierced deeper than before, and to mourn 
for him with fincerity and tendernefs,' (q). The God 
whom you have injured and affronted, whofe laws you 
have broken, and whofe juftice you have (as it were) 
challenged by this foolifh wretched apoftacy, is neverthe-. 
lefs ' a moft merciful God.' (r) You cannot be fo ready 

to 

(m) Jer. ii. 19. (n} Zee. xiii. 6. (o) Jer. vii. ia 
(p) E.aek. xxii. 14. (q) Zech. xii. 10. (r) Deut. iv. Jjfc. 



352 Divine mercy to be fought through him, Ch. Z3. 

to return to him, as he is to receive you. Even now does 
he, as it were, folicit a reconciliation, by thofe tender im- 
preffions which he is making upon your heart. But re- 
member, how he will be reconciled. It is in the very 
fame way, in which you made your firft approach to him ; 
in the name, and for the fake of his dear fon, come there- 
fore, in an humble dependence upon him. Renew your 
application to Jefus, that his blood may (as it were) be 
fprinkled upon your foul, and your foul may thereby be 
purified, and your guilt removed. This very fin of yours, 
which the bleffed God forefaw, increafed the weight of 
your redeemer's fufferings : It was concerned in fhedding 
his blood. Humbly go, and place your wounds, as it 
were, under the droppings of that precious balm, by which 
alone they can be healed. That companionate faviour 
will delight to reftore you, when you lie as an humble 
fuppliant at his feet, and will gracioufly take part witfc 
you in that peace and pleafure which he gives, through 
him renew your covenant with God, that broken coven- 
ant, the breach of which divine juftice might teach you to 
know * by terrible things in righteoufnefs : (s) But mercy 
allows of an accommodation. Let the confcioufnefs 
and remembrance of that breach engage you to enter in- 
to covenant anew, under a deeper fenfe than ever of your 
own weaknefs, and with a more cordial dependance on 
divine grace for your fecurity, than you have ever yet en- 
tertained. I know, you will be afhamed to prefent your- 
ielf among the children of God in his fanftuary, and ef- 
pecially at his table, under a confcioufnefs of fo much 
guilt : But brake through that fhame, if providence open 
you the way. You would be humbled before your offend- 
ed father : But furely, there is no place where you are 
more like to be humbled, than when you fee yourfelf in 
hishoufe; and no ordinance adminiftred there can lay 
you lower, than that in which ' Chrifl is evidently fet 
forth, as crucified before your eyes.' (t) Sinners are the 
only perfons who have bufmefs there. The beft of men 
come to that facred table, as fmners : As fuch make your 
approach to it ; yea, as the greateflf of fmners ; as one 
who needs the blood of Jems, as much as any creature up- 
on earth. S> 6. And 
(s) Pfal. lxv. 5. (s) Gal. iii. i. 



Qh. 23. Repentance to bepubllck, if the fin tefo. 253 

§. 6. And let me remind you of one thing more : If 
your fall has been of fuch a nature as to give any fcandal 
to others, be not at all concerned to fave appearances, and 
to moderate thofe mortifications which deep humiliation 
befoie them would occafion. The depth and pain of that 
mortification is indeed an excellent medicine, which God 
has in wife goodnefs appointed for you in fuch circum- 
ftances as thefe. In fuch a cafe, confefs your fault with 
the greateft franknefs : Aggravate it to the utmoft : In- 
treat pardon, and prayer, from thofe whom you have of- 
fended. Then, and never till then, will you be in the 
way to peace : Not by palliating a fault, not by making 
vain excufes, not by objecting to the manner in which o- 
thers may have treated you : as if the leaft excefs of ri- 
gour in a faithful admonition were a crime equal to fome 
great immorality that occafioned it. This can only pro- 
ceed from the madnefs of pride and felf-love : It is the 
fenfibility of a wound, which is hardened, fwelled, and in- 
flamed ; and it mull be reduced, and cooled, and fuj** 
pled, before it can poffibly be cured. To be cenfured, 
and condemned by men, will be but a little grievance, to 
a foul thoroughly humbled and broken under a fence of 
having incurred the condemning fentence of God. Such, 
a one will rather defire to glorify God, by fubmitting to 
delerved blame ^ and will fear deceiving others into a 
more favourable opinion of him, than he inwardly knows 
himfelf to deferve. Thefe are the fentiments which God 
gives to the fmcere penitent in fuch a cafe ; and by this 
means he reftores him to that credit and regard among 
others, which he does not know how to feek ; but which, 
neverthelefs, for the fake both of his comfort and ufeful- 
nefs, God wills thathe mould have; and which itis, human- 
ly fpeaking, impoflible for him to recover any other wak\ 
But there is fomething fo honorable in the frank acknowl- 
edgment of a fault, and in deep humiliation for it, that all 
who fee it mull needs approve it. They pity an offender, 
who is brought to fuch a difpofition ; and endeavour to 
comfort him with returning exprelllons not only of their 
love, but of their efteem too. 

§. 7. Excufethis digreffion, which may fuit fome caf- 
«sj and which would fuit many more, if a regular difci- 

.pline 



2^4 A prayer for me fallen into gwfs fin. Ch. 23; 

pline were to be exercifed in churches : For onfuch afup- 
pofition, the Lord's fupper could not be approached after 
vifible and fcandalous falls, without, folemn confeffion of 
the oitence, and declarations of repentance. On the oth- 
er hand, there may be inftances of fad apoftacy, where the 
crime, though highly aggravated before God, may not 
fall under human notice. In this cafe, remember, that 
your buiinefs is with him. to whofe piercing eye every 
thing appears in its juft light : Before him therefore prof- 
trate your fouls, and feck a iblemn reconciliation with him, 
confirmed by the memorials of his dving fon. And when 
this is done, imagine not, that, becaufe you have received 
the tokens of pardon, the guilt of your apoftacy is to be 
forgot at once. Bear it ftiil in your memory, for future 
caution : Lament it before God, in the frequent returns of 
fecret devotion efpecially : And view with humiliation 
the fears of thofe wounds which your own folly occa* 
fioned, even when by divine grace they are thoroughly 
healed. For God eftablifhes his covenant, not to remove 
the fenfe of every paft abomination, but * that thou mayeft 
remember thy ways, and be confounded, and never open 
thy mouth any more becaufe ofthyfname, even when I 
am pacified towards thee for all that thou haft done, faith 
the Lord.' u) 

§. 8. And now, upon the whole, if you defire to attain 
fuch a temper, and to return by fuch fteps as thefe, then 
immediately fall down before God, and pour out your 
heart in his prefence, in language like this. 

A "Prayer for one who has fallen into grafsfn, after religious 
reflations and engagements. 

" O MOST holy, holy, holy, Lord God J When I fe. 
rioufiy reflect on thy fpotl'efs purity, and on the ftriet. and 
impartial methods of thy fteady adminiftration, together 
with that almighty power of thine, which is able to carry 
every thought of thine heart -into immediate and full exe- 
cution, I may juftly appear before thee this day with 
fhame and terror, in confufion and confternation of fpiriu 
.This day, O my God, this dark mournful day,' would I 
take occafion to look back to that fad fource of our guilt, 

(u^ Ezek. xvi. 63. and 



Ch. 23. after former religious engagements* 2££ 

and our mifery, the apoftacy cf our common parents, and 
fay with thine offending fervant David, * behold I was 
fhapen in iniquity, and in fin did my mother conceive 
me.' (w) This day would I lament all the fatal confe- 
quences of fuch a defcent with regard to myfelf. And O 
how many have they been ! — The remembrance of the 
fins of my unconverted ftate, and the failings and infirmi- 
ties of my after-life, may juftly confound me : How 
much more fuch afcene as now lies before my confcience, 
and before thine all feeing eye ? For ' Thou O Lord, 
Imoweft my foolifhnefs, and my fins are not hid from thee.* 
(x) * Thou telleft all my wanderings from thy ftatutes :' 
(y) Thou feeft, and thou recordeft every inftance of my 
difobedience to thee, and of my rebellion againft thee : 
Thou feeft it in every aggravated circumftance which I 
can difcern, and in many more which I have never obfer- 
ved or reflected upon. How then fhall I * appear in thy 
prefence, or lift up my face to thee !' (z) ' I am full of 
confufion,' (a) and feel a fecret regret in the thought of 
applying to thee : But, ' O Lord, to whom mould I go, 
but unto thee ;* (b) unto thee, on whom depends my life, 
or my death, unto thee,' who alone canft take away that 
burthen of guilt, which now preffes me down to the duft, 
who alone canft reftore to my foul that reft and peace 
which I have loft, and which I deferve ever to lofe ? 

" Behold me, O Lord God, falling down at thy feet \ 
Behold me, pleading guilty in thy prefence, and furrender- 
ing myfelf to that juftice which I cannot efcape ? I have 
not one word to offer in mine own vindication, in my own 
excufe. Words, far from being able to clear up my in- 
nocence, can never fufficiently defcribe the enormity and 
demerit of my fin. Thou, O Lord, and thou only know- 
eft to the full, how heinous and how aggravedit is. Thine 
infinite under ftan ding alone can fathom the infinite depth 
of its malignity. I am, on many accounts, moft unable 
to do it." I cannot conceive the glory of thy fa- 
cred majefty, whofe authority I have defpifed, nor the 
number and variety of thofe mercies, which I have fmned 
againft. I cannot conceive the value of the blood of thy 

X dear 

(w) Pfal. li. S . (x) Pfal. lxix. 5. (y) Pfal. lvi. 8. 
^z) Ezra ix. 6. (a) Job x. 15. (b) John vi, 63, 



%l 6 A prayer for one fatten 'into grofs Jtn, Ch. 2$* 

dear fon, which I have ungratefully trampled under my 
feet ; nor the dignity of that bleifed fpirit of thine, whofe 
agency I have, as far as I could, been endeavouring to 
oppofe, and whofe work I have been, as with all my might, 
labouring to undo, and to tear up ( as it were ) that plan- 
tation of his grace, which I mould rather have been will- 
ing to have guarded with my life, and watered with my 
blood. O the bafenefs and madnefs of my conduct ! That 
I fhould thus, as it were, rend open the wounds of my 
foul, of which I had died long ere this, had not thine own 
hand applied a remedy, had not thine only fon bled to 
prepare it ! That I ihould violate that covenant I have 
Vmade with thee by facrince,' (c) by the memorials of 
fuch a facrince too? even of Jefus, my Lord, whereby I am 
become ' guilty of his body and blood !' id) That I mould 
bring fuch difhoncr upon religion too, by fo unfuitable a 
walk, and perhaps open the moutbs of its greateft enemies 
to jnfult it upon my account, and prejudice fome againft 
it to their everlafting deftrucrion ! 

" I, wonder, Lord God, that I am here to own all 
this. I wonder, thou haft not long ago appeared l as 
a iVvift witnefs againft me ;' (e) that thou haft not dif- 
ch.i-ed the thunderbolts of thy flaming wrath againft 
me, and crafted me into nell ; making me there a terror to 
all about me, as well as to myfelf, by a vengeance and ru- 
in, to be diftinguiilied even there, where all are miferable, 
and all hopelefs. 

" O God, thy patience is marvellous ! But how much 
mere marvellous is thy grace, which after all this invites 
ine to thee ! While I am here giving judgment againft 
myfelf, that I deferve to die, to die for ever, thou art 
fending me the words of everlafting life, and * calling me, 
a backfiiJing child, to return unto thee/ (f) Behold 
therefore, O Lord, invited by thy word> and encouraged 
by thy grace, I come ; and great as my tranfgreffions are, 
I humbly befeech thee, freely to pardon them. Becaufe 
I know, that though my ' fms have reached unto heaven,' 
(g.) and ' are lifted up even to the fkies,' (h) * Thy mercy, 
O Lord, is above the heaven.' (i). Extend that mercy 

to 

(c) Pfal. 1. 5. (d) 1 Cor. xi. 27. (e) Mai. iii. 5. (f) Jer, 
iii. 22. (g) Rev. xviii. 5. \h) Jer. ii. 9. (i) Pfal. cviii. 4. 



Cli. 23. after former religious engagements. 2$f 

to me, O heavenly father ; and difplay, in this illufrrious 
inftance, the riches of thy grace, and the prevalency of 
thy fon's blood ! For furely, if fuch crimfon fins, as 
mine may be made k white as mow and as wool,' (k) 
and if fuch a levolter as I am be brought to eternal glo- 
ry, earth muft, fo far as it is known, be filled with won- 
der, and heaven with praife ; and the greateit firmer may 
cheerfully apply for pardon, if I the chief of finners find 
it. And O that, when I have lain mourning, and as it 
were bleeding at thy feet, as long as thou thinkeft proper, 
thou wouldfl: at length ' heal this foul of mine which hath 
finned againft thee;' (1) and 'give me beauty for allies, 
the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praife for 
the fpirit of heavinefs.' (m) O that thou wouldfl at length 
1 reftore unto me the joy of thy falvation, and make me 
to hearfongs of gladnefs that the bones which thou haft 
broken may rejoice.' (n) Then, when a lenfe of thy for- 
giving love is fired abroad upon my heart, and it is cheer- 
ed with the voice of pardon, I will proclaim thy grace to 
others ; * I will teach tranfgreiTors thy ways, and finners 
(hall be converted unto thee :' (o) Thofe, that have been 
backiliding from thee, (hall be encouraged to feek thee by 
my happy experience, which I will gladly proclaim for 
thy glory, though it be to my own fhame and confufron 
efface. And may this 'joy of the Lord be my itrength,' 
(p) fo that in it I may ferve thee henceforward with a 
vigor and zeal far beyond what I have hitherto known ! 
" This I would afk, with all humble fubmiinon to thy 
will ; for I prefume not to innft upon it. If thou fhouldlt 
fee fit to make me a warning to others, by appointing 
that I mould walk all my days in darknefs, and at lair. 
die under a cloud, thy will be done !. But, O God, extend 
mercy for thy fon's fake, to this fmful foul at laft ; and 
give me fome place, though it were at the feet of all thine 
other fervants in the regions of glory i O bring me at 
length, though it mould be through the gloomieil valley 
that any have ever parTed, into that blelTed world where 
I ihall depart from God no more, where I fhall wound my 
own confeience, and dishonor thy holy nam'? no more ! 

(k) Ifai. r. 18. (1) Pfal. xli. 4. ;r, Ifai. xli. f. 

(tt)Pfal. lh 8, 12. (oj P&Lli, 13. (p) Neh. viii. 10, 



2 5 ^ The cafe of God* s hiding his face* Ch. 24. 

Then fhall my tongue be loofed, how long foever it might 
here be bound under the ccnfufion of guilt ; and immor- 
tal praifes fhall be paid to that vi&crious blood, which has 
redeemed fuch an infamous flave of fin, as I mull: ac- 
knowledge myfelf to be, and brought me, from returns in- 
to bondage and repeated pollution, to (hare the dignity 
and holinefs of thofe, who are * kings and priefts untfe 
God.' {%) Amen:' 

(q) Rev. i. 6. 



CHAP. XXIV. 

the case of the christian under the hidings of 
God's face. 

The phrafe fcripiurah K. I. It fignifes the withdrawing the 
tokens of the divine favour, §. 2. cbiefy as to fpiritual con- 
Jiderations. §. 3. This may become the cafe of any Chriflian, 
§. 4. and will be found a very forrowful one ; §. 5. The 
following diretHons therefore, are given to thofe who fuppofe 
it to be their own ; I. To enquire whether it be indeed a cafe 
of fpiritual diflrefs, or whether a difconfolate frame may not 
proceed from indifpofition of body, §. 6. or difficulties, as to 
worldly circumflances. {. 7. If it be found to be indeed fuch, 
as the title of the chapter propofes, be advifed, II. To confid- 
er it as a merciful difpenfation of Cod, to awaken and beflir 
the foul j and excite to aflricl examination of conference, and 
reformation of what has been am'ifs. § 8, 9. III. To be hum- 
ble and patient while the trial continues. $• 10. IV. To go 
onfeadily in the 'way of duty. §. II. V. To renew a be- 
lieving application to the blood of Jefus. §. 12. An humble 
f application for one under thefe mournful exercifes of mind, 
when they are found to proceed from the fpiritual caufefup* 
pofed. 

§. 1. I. HERE is a cafe which often occurs in the 
Chriflian life, which tkey who accuftom themfelves much 

to 



Ch. 24* What is meant by God's hiding his fact ', 259 

to the exercife of devotion, have been ufed to call the hid- 
ing of God's face. It is a phrafe borrowed from the 
word of God, which I hope may ihelter it from contempt 
at the firft hearing. It will be my bufmefs in this chap- 
ter to ftate it as plainly as I can, and then to give fome 
advice as to your own conduct when you fall into it, as it 
is very probable you may before you have nniined your 
journey through this wilder nefs. 

^. 2. The meaning of it may partly be underftood by 
the oppofite phrafe, of God's caufmg his face to fliine up-' 
on a perfon, or lifting up upon him the light of his coun- 
tenance. This feems to carry in it an allufion to the 
pleafant arid delightful appearance which the face of a 
friend has, and efpecially if in a fuperior relation of life, 
when he converfes with thofe whom he loves and delights 
in. Thus Job, when fpeaking of the regard paid him by 
his attendants, fays* * If I fmiled upon them, they believ- 
ed it not, and the light of my countenance they caft not 
down ;' (a) that is, they were careful, in fueh an agreea- 
ble cireumftance, to. do nothing to difpleafe me, or (as we 
fpeak) to cloud my brow. And David, when expreffing 
his defire of the manifestation of God's favour -to him, 
fays, « Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance up- 
on me ;' and, as the effect of it, declares, * thou haft put 
gladnefs into my heart more than if corn and wine increas- 
ed.' (b ) Nor is it impofiible, that in this phrafe as ufed by 
David, there may be fome allufion to the bright ihining 
forth of the Shekinah, that is, the luftre which dwelt in 
the cloud as the vifible fign of the divine prefence with If- 
rael, which God was pleafed peculiarly to manifeft upon 
fome public occasions, as a token of his favor and accept- 
ance.— ^On the other hand therefore, for God to hide his 
face, muft imply the withholding the tokens of his favour, 
and muft be efteemed a mark of his difpleafure. Thus I- 
faiah ufes it ; * Your iniquities have feparated between 
you and your God, and your fins have hid his face from 
you, that he will not hear.' (c) And again, * thou halt 
hid thy face from us,' as not regarding the calamities we 
fuffer, 'and haft confumedus, becaufe of our iniquities.' (dV 
x fo 

fa) Job xxix. 24. (b) P&l. »Y. 6 ? 7, (c) Ifaj. Itt* 2, 
^d) Ifai. Ixiv. 7. 



hderations. 



So likewife, for God * to hide his face from our fins,' (e) 
fignines to overlook them, and to take no farther notice 
of them. The fame idea is, at other times, exprefTed by 
■ God's hiding his eyes' (f) from perfons of a character 
difagreeable to him, when they come to addrefs him, with 
their petitions, not vouchfafing ias it were) to look to- 
wards them. This is plainly the fcriptural fenfe cf the 
word ; and agreeably to this, it is generally ufed by 
Chriftians in our day, and every thing which feems a to- 
ken of divine difpleafure towards them is expreffed by it. 

§. 3. It is farther to be obferved here, that the things 
which they judge to be manifestations of divine favour to- 
wards them, of complacency in them, are not only, nor 
chiefly of a temporal nature, or fuch as merely relate to 
the bleffings of this animal and periiliing life. David, 
though the promifes of the law had a continual reference 
to fuch, yet was taught to look farther, and defcribes them 
as preferable to, and therefore plainly diftinct from, * the 
bleffings cfthe corn-floor 01 the wine-prefs.' (g) And if 
you, to whom I am now addreffing, do not know them to 
be fo, it is plain you are quite ignorant of the fubject we 
are enquiring into, and indeed are yet to take out the firft 
leffons of true religion. All that David fays, cf ' behold- 
ing the beauty of the Lord,' (h) or being ' fat'. c fied as with 
marrow and fatnefs, when he remembered him on his 
bed,' [ i ) as well as ' with the goodnefs of his houfe, even 
of his holy temple/ (k) is to be taken in the fame fenfe, 
and can need very little explication to the truly experienc- 
ed foul. But thofe that have known the light of God's 
countenance, and the minings of his face, will, in propor- 
tion to the degree of that knowledge, be able to form fome 
notion of the hiding of his face, or the withdrawing of the 
tokens he has given his people of his prefence and favour, 
which fometimes greatly imbitters profperity ; as where 
the contrary is found, it fweetens afflictions, and cften 
fwallows up the fenfe of them. 

§. 4. And give me leave to remind you, my ChrifKan 
friend, (for under that character I now addrefs my reader) 
that to be thus deprived of the fenfe of God's love, and of 

the 

(e) Pfal. li. 9. (f) Ifai. i. 15. > g" Pfal. iv. 7. 

(h) Pfal. xxvii. 4. (ij Pfal. Ixiii. 5, 6. (fej Pfal. lxv. 4, 



Ch. 24. This mayfoon be the cafe with you t 26 X 

the tokens of his favour, may foon be the cafe with you, 
though you may now have the pleafure to fee the candle 
of the Lord jfhining upon you, or though it may even 
feem to be fun-fhirie and high noon in your foul. You 
may loofe your lively views of the divine perfections and 
glories, in the contemplation of which you now find that 
inward fatisfaction. You may think of the divine wifdom 
and power, of the divine mercy and fidelity, as well as of 
his righteoumefs and holinefs, and feel little inward com- 
placency of foul in the views. It may be, with refpect 
to any lively impreflions, as if it were the contemplation 
merely of a common object. It may feem to you, as if 
you had loft all idea of thofe important words, though 
the view has fometimes fwallowed up your whole foul in 
tranfports of aftonifhment, admiration and love. You 
may lofe your delightful fenfe of the divine favour. It 
may be matter of great and fad doubt with you, whether 
you do indeed belong to God ; and all the work of his 
bleiTed fpirit may be fo veiled and fhaded in the foul, that 
the peculiar characters, by which the hand of that facred 
agent might be diftinguifhed, ihall be in a great meafure 
loft ; and you may be ready to imagine, you have only de- 
luded yourfelf in all the former hopes you have enter- 
tained. In confequence of this, thofe ordinances, in which 
you now rejoice, may grow very uncomfortable to you, 
even when you do indeed defire communion with God in 
them. You may hear the moft delightful evangelical 
truths opened, you may hear the privileges of God's 
children moft affectionately reprefented, and not be aware 
that you have any part or lot in this matter ; and from 
that very coldnefs and infenfibility may be drawing a far- 
ther argument, that you have nothing to do with them. 
And then your heart may ' meditate terror/ ['}) and un- 
der the diftrefs that overwhelms you, your deareft enjoy- 
ments may be -reflected upon as adding to the weight of 
it, and making it more fenfible, while you confider that, 
you had once fucha taftefor thefe things, and have now 
loft it all. So that perhaps it may feem to you, that they, 
* who never felt any thing at all of religious impreflions, 
are happier than you, or at leaft are lefs miferable. You 

may 
11] Iiai. xxxiii. i8« 



l6o with re/pet? to fpiritual c onf icier at \ons. Ch. 24, 

So likewife, for God * to hide his face from our fins,' (e) 
fignifies to overlook them, and to take no farther notice 
of them. The fame idea is, at other times, expreffed by 
1 God's hiding his eyes' \i) from perfons of a character 
difagreeable to him, when they come to addrefs him, with 
their petitions, not vouchsafing .as it were) to look to- 
wards them. This is plainly the fcriptural fenfe cf the 
word ; and agreeably to this, it is generally ufed by 
Chriitians in our day, and every thing which feems a to- 
ken of divine difpleafure towards them is expreffed by it, 

§. 3. It is farther to be obferved here, that the things 
which they judge to be manifeitations cf divine favour to- 
wards them, of complacency in them, are not only, nor 
chiefly of a temporal nature, or fuch as merely relate to 
the bleffings of this animal and perifhing life. David, 
though the promifes of the law had a continual reference 
to fuch, yet was taught to look farther, and defcribes them 
as preferable to, and therefore plainly diftinct from, ■ the 
bleffings cf the corn-floor 01 the wine-prefs.' (g And if 
you, to whom I am now addreffing, do not know them to 
be fo, it is plain you are quite ignorant of the fubject we 
are enquiring into, and indeed are yet to take out the firft 
leffons of true religion. All that David fays, cf ' behold- 
ing the beauty of the Lord,' (h) or being ' fati.'fied as with 
marrow and fatnefs, when he remembered him on his 
bed,' [ i ) as well as ' with the goodnefs of his houfe, even 
of his holy temple,' (k) is to be taken in the fame fen r e, 
and can need very little explication to the truly experienc- 
ed foul. But thofe that have known the light of God's 
countenance, and the minings of his face, will, in propor- 
tion to the degree of that knowledge, be able to form fome 
notion of the hiding of his face, or the withdrawing cf the 
tokens he has given his people of his prefence and favour, 
which fometimes greatly imbitters profperity ; as where 
the contrary is found, it fweetens afflictions, and cften 
fwallows up the fenfe of them. 

§. 4. And give me leave to remind you, my ChrifKan 
friend, (for under that character I now addrefs my reader) 
that to be thus deprived of the fenfe of God's love, and of 

the 

(e) Pfal. li. 9. (f)Ifai. i. 15. 'g' Pfal. iv. 7. 

(h) Pfal. xxvii. 4. (i; Pfal. Ixiii. 5, 6. (k, Pfal. lxv. 4. 



Ch. 24. This may foon le the cafe with you i 26 T 

the tokens of his favour, may foon be the cafe with you, 
though you may now have the pleafure to fee the candle 
of the Lord fhining upon you, or though it may even 
feem to be fun-ihme and high noon in your foul. You 
may loofe your lively views of the divine perfections and 
glories, in the contemplation of which you now find that 
inward fatisfa&ion. You may think of the divine wifdom 
and power, of the divine mercy and fidelity, as well as of 
his righteoumefs and holinefs, and feel little inward com- 
placency of foul in the views. It may be, with refped 
to any lively impreflions, as if it were the contemplation 
merely of a common object. It may feem to you, as if 
you had loft all idea of thofe important words, though 
the view has fometimes fwallowed up your whole foul in 
tranfports of aftonifhment, admiration and love. You 
may lofe your delightful fenfe of the divine favour. It 
may be matter of great and fad doubt with you, whether 
you do indeed belong to God ; and all the work of his 
ble/Ted fpirit may be fo veiled and fhaded in the foul, that 
the peculiar characters, by which the hand of that facred 
agent might be diftinguimed, ihall be in a great meafure 
loft ; and you may be ready to imagine, you have only de- 
luded yourfelf in all the former hopes you have enter- 
tained. In confequence of this, thofe ordinances, in which 
you now rejoice, may grow very uncomfortable to you, 
even when you do indeed defire communion with God in 
them. You may hear the mod delightful evangelical 
truths opened, you may hear the privileges of God's 
children moft affectionately reprefented, and not be aware 
that you have any part or lot in this matter ; and from 
that very coldnefs and infenfibility may be drawing a far- 
ther argument, that you have nothing to do with them. 
And then your heart may ' meditate terror/ (1) and un- 
der the diftrefs that overwhelms you, your deareft enjoy- 
ments may be ♦reflected upon as adding to the weight of 
it, and making it more fenfible, while you confider that, 
you had once fucha taftefor thefe things, and have now 
loft it all. So that perhaps it may feem to you, that they, 
who never felt any thing at all of religious impreflions, 
are happier than you, or at leaft are lefs miferable. You 

may 
(1) Ifai. xxxiii. i8« 



262 And quill be a forroivful one indeed. Qh. 24* 

may perhaps In thefe melancholy hours, even doubt, 
whether you have ever prayed at all, and whether all that 
you called your enjoyment of God, were notfome falfe 
delight, excited by the great enemy of fouls, to make you 
apprehend that your ftate was good, that fo you might 
continue his more feeure prey. 

§t 5* Such as tliis may be your cafe for a confiderable 
time ; and ordinances may be attended in vain, and the 
prefence of God may be in vain fought in them. You 
may pour out your foul in private, and then come to pub- 
lic worlhip, and find little fatisfaction in either ; but be 
forced to take up the pfalmiit's complaint j ' My God, I 
cry in the day-time, but thou heareft not ; and in the 
night feafon, and am not ulent;' ~m 1 or that of Job. ' Be- 
hold I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but 
I cannot perceive him ; on the left hand where he doth 
work, but I cannot behold him ; he hrdeth himfelf on the 
right hand that I cannot fee him :* (n) So that all, which 
looked like religion in your mind, mail feem, as it were, 
to be melted into grief, or chilled into fear, or crufhed 
into a dees fenfe of your own unworthinefs ; in confe- 
quence of which, you mall not dare fo much as to lift up 
your eyes before God, and be alrrioft aihamed to take 
your place in a worshipping aflembly among any that you 
think his fervants. I have known this to be the cafe of 
fome excellent Chriftians, whofe improvements in relig- 
ion have been diftinguifhed, and whom God hath honored 
above many of their brethren in what he hath done for 
them, and by them. Give me leave therefore, having 
thus defcribed it, to offer you feme plain advices with re- 
gard to it j and let not that be imputed to enthufiaftick 
fancy, which proceeds from an intimate and frequent 
view of facls on the one hand, and from a fmcere affec- 
tionate defire, on the other, to relieve the tender pious 
heart info defolate a ftate. At leaft,J am perfuad* 
ed, the attempt will not be overlooked or difapproved by 
* the great fhepherd of the fheep,' {o.j who has charged 
us to ■ comfort the feeble minded.' p) 

§. 6. And here I would firft ad vile you moft carefully 

to 

(m^ Pfal. xxii. 2. (n) Job xxiii. 8, 9. (o) Heb. xii* 20. 
(p; 1 Theif. v. 14. 



Ch. 24. Enquire whence it arifes : 263 

to enquire, whether your prefent diftrefs, does indeed a- 
rife from caufes which are truly fpiritual ? Or whether it 
may not rather have its foundation in fome diforder of ' 
body, or in the circumftanees of life, in which you are 
providentially placed, which may break your fpirits and 
deject your mind ? The influence of the inferior part of 
our nature, on the nobler, the immortal fpirit, while we 
continue in this embodied ftate, is fo evident, that no at- 
tentive perfon can, in the general, fail to have obferved 
it ; and yet, thefe are cafes, in which it feems not to be 
Sufficiently confuiered ; and perhaps your own may be 
one of them. The ftate of the blood is often fuch, as ne- 
ceffarily to fuggeft gloomy ideas even in dreams, and to 
indifpofe the foul for taking pleafure in any thing : And 
when it is fo, why mould it be imagined to proceed from 
any peculiar divine difpleafure, if it does not find its ufu- 
al delight in religion ? Or why mould God be thought to 
have departed from us, becaufe he fuffers natural caufes to 
produce natural effects, without oppofmg by miracle to 
break the connection ? When this is the cafe, the help of 
the phyfician is to be fought, rather than that of the 
divine, or at leaft, by all means, together with it ; and 
medicine, diet, exercife and air, may, in a few weeks, ef- 
fect that, which the ftrongeft reafonings, themofl pathet- 
ic exhortations or confolations, might for many months 
have attempted in vain. 

§. 7. In other inftances, the dejection and feeblenefs of 
the mind may rife from fomething uncomfortable in our 
worldly circumftanees ; thefe may cloud as well as dif- 
tract the thoughts, and imbitter the temper, and thus ren- 
der us in a great degree unfit for religious fervices or 
pleafures ; and when it is fo, the remedy is to be fought 
in fubmiflion to divine providence, in abftracting our af- 
fections as far as pofllble from the prefent world, in a 
prudent care to eafe ourfelves of the burthen fo far as we 
can, by moderating unneceffary expences, and by diligent 
application to bufmefs, in humble dependance on the di- 
vine bleflmg ; in the mean time, endeavouring by faith 
to look up to him, who fometimes fuffers his children to 
be brought into fuch difficulties, that he may endear him- 
felf more fenfibly to them by the method he mail take for 
their relief. $. & 



264 Particularly, whether from Jtn. Ch. 24. 

. J. 8. On the principles here laid down, it may, per- 
haps, appear on enquiry, that the diftrefs complained of, 
may have a foundation very different from what was at 
firit fuppofed. But where the health is found, and the 
circumftances are eafy ; when the animal fpirits aredifpof- 
ed for gaiety and entertainment, while all tafte for relig- 
ious pleafure is in a manner gone ; when the foul is feiz- 
ed with a kind of lethargic infenfibility, or what I had al- 
moft palled, a paralytic weaknefs, with refpecl to every 
religious exercife, even though there mould not be that 
deep terrifying diftrefs, or pungent amazement, which I 
before reprefented as the effecT: of -melancholy ; nor that 
anxiety about the accommodations of life, which ftraight 
circumftances naturally produce : I would in that cafe 
vary my advice, and urge you, with all poflible attention 
and impartiality, to fearch into the caufe which has 
brought .upon you that great evil, under which you juft- 
ly mourn. And, probably, in the general, the cauie is 
fin ; fome fecret fin which has not been difcovered or ob« 
ferved by the eye of the world ; for enormities that draw 
on them the obfervation and cenfure of others, will prob- 
ably fall under the cafe mentioned in the former chapter, 
as they mull; be inftances of known and deliberate guilt. 
Now the eye of God hath feen thefe evils which have ef- 
caped the notice of your fellow creatures ; and in confe- 
rence of this care to conceal them from others, while 
you could not but know they were open to him. God 
has feen himfelf m a peculiar manner affronted, and in- 
jured, I had almoft faid infulted by them : And hence his 
righteous difpleafure. O ! let that never be forgotten, 
which is fo plainly faid, fo commonly known, fo familiar 
to almoft every religious ear, yet too little felt by any 
of our hearts. * Your iniquities have feparated between 
you and your God, and your fins have hid his face from 
you that he will not hear.' <q j And this is on the whole, 
a merciful difpenfation of God, though it may feem fe- 
vere ; regard it net, therefore, merely as your calamity, 
but as intended to awaken you, that you may not con- 
tent yourfelf, even with lying in tears of humiliation be* 
&>re .the Lord, but like Jofhua rife and exert yourfelf vig* 

orouflyj 
(q) Ifai. lix. 1, 2, 



Ch. 24* Glofely examine your confeience* 265 

oroufly, to put away from you that accurfed thing what* 
ever it be. Let this be your immediate and earneft care, 
that your pride may be humbled, that your watchfulnefs 
may be maintained, that your affections to the world may 
be deadened, and that, on the whole, your fitnefs for heav- 
en may in every refpect be increafed. Thefe are the de- 
figns of your heavenly father, and let it be your great 
concern to co-operate with them. 

$.9. Receive it, therefore, on the whole, as the moft im- 
portant advice that can be given you, immediately to en- 
ter on a uricl: examination of your confeience. Attend 
on its gentleft whifpers. If a fufpicion ariies in your 
mind, that any thing has not been right, trace that fufpi- 
cion, fearch into everv fecret folding of your heart ; im- 
prove to the purpofes of a fuller difcovery, the advices of 
your friends, the reproaches »^f your enemies ; recollect 
for what your heart hath fmitten you at the table of the 
Lord, for what it would fmite you, if yoU were upon a 
dying bedj and within this hour to enter on eternity. — . 
When you have made any difcovery, note it down, and go 
on in your fearch till you can fay, thefe are the remaining 
corruptions of my heart, thefe are the fins and follies of 
my life ; this have I neglected ; this have I done amifs. 
And when the account is as complete as you can make k, 
fet yourfelf in the ftrength of God to a ftrenuous reforma- 

I tion, or rather begin the reformation of every thing that 

■ feems amifs as foon as ever you dtfeover it ; ^return to 
the Almighty and thou (halt be built up ; and put iniqui- 

' ty far from thy tabernacle, then ihalt thou have thy de- 
light in the Almighty, and (halt lift up thy face unto 

! God. Thou fhalt make thy prayer unto him and he fhall 
hear thee, thou ihalt pay thy vows unto him, and his light 
lhall mine upon thy ways.'(r) 

§. 10. In the mean time be waiting for God with the 
deepeft humility, and fubmit yourfelf to the difcipline of 
your heavenly father, acknowledging his juftice, and hop- 
ing in his mercy ; even when your confeience is leafl fe- 
vere in its remonftrances, and difcovers nothing more than 
the common infirmities of God's people ; yet ftill bow 
yourfelf down before him, and own, that fo many are the 

evils 
(r) Job vxii.. 23, 26, 27, 



2 66 Be humble', and go in the way of duty. . Ch. 24. 

evils of your beft days, fo many the imperfections of your 
beft fervices, that by them you have deferved all, and 
more than all that you fuffer ; deferved, not only that 
your fun lhould be clouded, but that it mould go down, 
and arife no more, but leave your foul in a ftate of ever- 
lafting darknefs. And while the fhade continues, be not 
impatient. Fret not yourfelf in any wife, but rather with 
a holy calmnefs and gentlenefs of foul, * wait on the 
Lord.' (s) Be willing to ftay his time, willing to bear 
his frown, in humble hope that he will at length ' return 
and have companion on you.' (t) He * has not utterly 
forgotten to be gracious, nor refolved, that he will be fa- 
vourable no more/ (u) * For the Lord will not caft ofF 
forever ; but though he caufe grief, yet will he have com- 
paffion according to the multitude of his mercies.' (x) 
It is comparatively but ■ for a fmall moment that he hides 
his face from you ; but, you may humbly hope, that with 
great mercies he will gather you, and that with everlaft- 
ing kindnefs he will have mercy on you.' (y) The fuita- 
ble words are not mine, but his ; and they wear this, as 
in the very front of them, " That a foul under the hid- 
ings of God's face, may at laft be one whom he will 
gather, and to whom he will extend everlafting favour." 
§. it. But while the darknefs continues " go on in the 
way of your duty." Continue the ufe of means and or- 
dinances ; Read and meditate : Pray, yes, and fing the 
praifes of God too, though it may be with a heavy heart. 
Follow ' the footfteps of his flock ;' (z) you may perhaps 
meet the fhepherd of fouls in doing it. Place yc-urfelf at 
leaft in his way. It is poffible, you may, by this means, 
get a kind look from him ; and one look, one turn of 
thought which may happen in a moment, may as it were 
create a heaven in your foul at once. Go to the table O/f 
the Lord. If you cannot rejoice, go and mourn there. 
* Go and mourn that faviour, whom by your fins you have 
pierced ;' (a) go and lament the breaches of that cove- 
nant, which f ou have there fo often confirmed. Chrifl 
may, perhaps, 'makehimfelf known unto you in the break- 
ing 
(s) Pfah xxxvii. 8, 34. (t) Jer. xii. 15. (u) Pfal. lxxvii. y,y. 
(x) Lam. iii. 31, 32. (y) Ifai. liv, 7, 8. (z) Song Sol., i. 8. 
(a) Zech. xli. ia. 



Ch. 24. Renew your application to Chrtfl, Sec. 26? 

breaking of bread/ (b) and you may find, to your fum. 
prize, that he hath been near you, when you imagined he 
was at the greateft diftance from you ; near you, when 
you thought you were cafi out from his prefence. Seek 
your comforts in fuch employments as thefe ; and not in 
the vain amufements of the world, and in the pleafures of 
fenfe. I fhall never forget that affectionate expreffien, 
which I am well affured broke out from an eminently pi- 
ous heart, then almoft ready to break under its forrows 
of this kind ! " Lord, if I may not enjoy thee, let me en- 
joy nothing elfe ; but go down mourning after thee to the 
grave !" I wondered not to hear, that almofl as fcon as 
this fentiment had been breathed out before God in pray- 
er, the burthen was taken off, and the joy of God's falva- 
tion reftored. 

§. 12. I fhall add but one advice more ; and that is, 
" That you renew your application to the blood of Jefus, 
through whom the reconciliation between God and your 
foul has been accomplifhed." It is * he that is our peace, 
and by his blood it is that we are made nigh :' (c) It is 
4 in him, as the beloved of his foul, that God declares, he 
is well pleafed ;' (d) and it is * in him that we are made 
accepted, to the glory of his grace.' (e) Go therefore, O 
Chriftian, and apply by faith to a crucified faviour : 
Go and apply to him as to a merciful high prieft, 
* and pour out thy complaint before him, and fhew before 
him thy trouble.' (f) Lay open the diftrefs and anguifh' 
of thy foul to him, who once knsw what it was to fay, (O 
aitonifhing ! that he of all others ihouldever have faid 
it,) * My God, my God, why haft thou forfaken me ?' (g) 
Look up for pity and relief to him, who himfelf fuffered, 
being not only tempted, but with regard to fenfible mani- 
feft ations deferted ; that he might thus know how to pity 
thofe that are in fuch a melancholy cafe, and be ready, as 
well as * able, to fuccour them.' (h) He is ' Immanuel, 
God with us :' (r) and it is only in and through him, 
that his father mines forth upon us with the mildefl beams 
of mercy and of love. Let it be therefore your immediate 
Y care 

(b) Luke xxiv. 35. (c) Eph. ii. 1$, 14, (d' Mat. iii. 17, 
(e) Eph. i. 6. (F) Pfal. cxliL 2. ' (g) Mat, x^vii. 46, 
fr) Heb. ii. 18. (ij Mat. I 23. 



268 An humble /implication for $ne Ch. 24. 

care to renew your acquaintance with him. Review the 
records of his life and death : Hear his words : Behold 
his actions : And when you do fo, furely you will find a 
facred fweetnefs diffufing itfelf over your foul. You will 
be brought into a calm, gentle, filent frame, in which 
faith and love will operate powerfully, and God may 
probably caufe the * ftill fmall voice of his comforting 
fpirit to be heard,* (k) till your foul burfts out into a 
ibng of praife, and you may be * made glad according to 
the days in which you have been afflicted.' (1; In the mean 
time, fuch language as the following fupplication fpeaks, 
may be fuitable. 

An humble Supplication^*^ one under the hidings of God* t 
face, 

• « BLESSED God ! • with thee is the fountain of life/ 
(m) and of happinefs. I adore thy name that 1 have ev- 
er tafted of thy ftreams ; that I have ever felt the pecul- 
iar pleafure arifmg from the light of thy countenance, 
and the ihedding abroad of thy love on my foul. But a- 
las, thefe delightful feafons are now to me no more ; and 
the remembrance of them engages me to * pour out my 
foul within me.' 1 n) I would come, as I have formerly 
done, and call thee with the fame endearment, my Father, 
and my God : But alas, I know not how to do it. Guilt 
and fear arife, and forbid the delightful language. I feek 
thee, O Lord, but I feek thee in vain. I would pray, and 
my lips are fealed up. I would read thy word, and all 
the promifes of it are veiled from mine eyes. I frequent 
thole ordinances, which have been formerly moft nourifh- 
ing and comfortable to my foul ; but alas/they are only 
the fhadows of ordinances ; the fubftance is gone : The 
animating fpirit is fled, and leaves them now at beft 
but the image of what I ©nee knew them. 

" But, Lord, haft * thou caft off forever, and wilt thou 
be favourable no more ? (0} Haft thou in awful judgment 
determined, that my foul muft be left to a perpetual win- 
ter, the fad emblem of eternal darknefs ? Indeed I de< 
ferve it mould be fo. I acknowledge, O Lord, I defer ve 

td 
(k) 1 Kings six. 12. fl) Pfal. xc. 15. (m) Pfal. xxxvi. 9. 
(ft) Pfol. xlii. 4. (o) Pfal. lxxvii. 7. 



Ch. 24. under the hidings of God's face. 169 

to be caft\away from thy prefenee with difdain ; to be 
funk lower than I am, much lower : I deferve to have 
' the fhadow of death upon mine eye-lids,' (p) and even 
to be furrounded with the thick gloom of the infernal 
prifon. But haft thou not raifed multitudes, who have 
defervedlike me to be 'delivered into chains of darknefs,* 
(q to the vifions of thy glory above, where no cloud can 
ever interpofe between thee and their rejoicing fpirits ? 
* Have mercy upon me, O Lord, have mercy upon me \\ 
(r) And though mine iniquities have now juftly ' caufed 
thee to hide thy face from me,' (s) yet be thou rather 
pleafed, agreeably to the gracious language of thy word, 
to * hide thy face from my fins, and to blot out all mine 
iniquities !' (t) Chear my heart with the tokens of thy 
returning favour, and * fay unto my foul, I am thy falva- 
tion P (u) 

" Remember, O Lord God, remember that dreadful 
day, in which Jefus thy dear fon endured what my fins 
have deferved ! Remember that agony, in which he pour- 
ed out his foul before thee, and faid, « my God, my God, 
why haft thou forfaken me !' (x) Did he not, O Lord, en- 
dure all this, that humble penitents might through hira 
be brought near unto thee, and might behold thee with 
pieafure, as their father, and their God ? Thus do I de- 
fire to come unto thee. BlefTed faviour, art thou not ap- 
pointed * to give unto them that mourn in Zion, beauty 
for atfies, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of 
praife for the fpirit of heaviness ;' (y) O wafh away my 
tears, anoint my head with * the oil of gladnefs, and clothe 
me with the garments of falvation !' (zj 

" O that I knew where I might find thee !' (a) O that 
I knew what it is, that has engaged thee to depart from 
me ! I am * fearching and trying my ways : (b) O that 
thou wouldft ' fearch me, and know my heart, try me, and 
know my thoughts ; and if there be any wicked way in 
me, difcover it, and lead me in the way everlafting ;' (c) 
in that way, in which I may ' find reft and peace for my 

foul/ 

fp") Job. xvi. 16. (q) 2 Pet. ii. 4. (r) PfaL cxxiii. 3. 
(s) Ifai. lix. 2. (t) Pfal. Ii. 9. (u) Pfal. xxxv. 3. 

(x) Mat. xxvii. 46. (y) Ifai. lxi. 3. (z) Ifai. lxi. 10. 
(a J Job. xxiii. 3. (b) Lam. iii. 40. (c) Pfal. cxxxix. 23, 24. 



270 . An humble fupptication, Sec* Ch. 24 

foul,' (d) and feel the difcoveries of thy love in Chrift ! 

" O God, * who didft command the light to fhine out 
of darknefs,' (e) fpeak but. the word, and light fhall dart 
into my foul at once ! * Open thou my lips, and my 
mouth fhall . fhew forth thy praife,' (f) mall burft out into 
a cheerful fong, which fhall difplay before thofe, whom 
my prefent dejections may have difcouraged, the pleaf- 
ures and fupports of religion ! 

" Yet, Lord, on the whole* I fubmit to thy will. If it 
is thus that my faith mull be exercifed, by walking in dark- 
nefs for days, and months, and years to come, how long 
ibever they may feem, how long foever they may be, I 
will fubmit. Still will I adore thee, as 'the God of If- 
rael, and the faviour, though thou art a God that hideft 
thyfelf :' (g) Still will I ' truftin the name of the Lord* 
and ftay myfelf upon my God ;' (h) * trailing in thee, 
though thou flay me :' (i) * and waiting for thee, more 
than they that watch for the morning, yea, more than 
they that watch for the morning.' (k) Peradventure ' ui 
the evening time it may be light.' (1) I know, that thou 
haft fometimes manifefted thy companions to thy dying 
fervants, and given them, in the lowefl ebb of their natur- 
al fpirits, a full tide of divine glory, thus turning ' dark- 

_ !j,_._^v, iifa u. t>i^ _._.-.. ^mj ioomay ic p A eaie tnee 
to gild ' the valley of the fhadow of death with the light 
of thy prefence, when I am paffing through it, and to 
ftretch forth thy red and thy ftaff to comfort me,' (n) that 
my tremblings may ceafe, and the gloonTmay echo with 
longs of praife ! But if it be thy fovereign pleafure, that 
diftrefs and darknefs mould ftill continue to the laft mo- 
tion of my pulfe and the laft gafp of my breath, O let it 
ceafe with the parting ftruggle, and bring me to * that 
light which is fownfor the righteous, and to that gladnefs 
which is referved for the upright in .heart ;' (o) to the 
unclouded regions of everlafting fplendor and joy, where 
the full anointings of thy fpirit fhall ' be poured out on all 
thy people, and thou wilt no more hide thy face from a- 
ny of them !' (p) "This, 

(d) Jer. vi. 16. (e) 2 Cor. iv. 6. (f) PfaL li. 15, 
(g) Ifai. xlv. 15. (h) Ifai. 1. 10. (i) Job. xiii. 15, 

(k) Pfal. exxx. 6. (1) Zech. xiv. 7. (m) Ifai. xiii. i6. 
(n) PfaL xxiii. 4. (0) Pfal. xcvii. 11. (p) Ezek. xxxix. 29, 



Ch. 2£. The Cbriftian jlould ' expeB ajjlitthn. iqi 

■ " This, * Lord, is thy falvation for which I am waiting |* 
(q) and whilft I feel the defires of my foul drawn out af- 
ter it, I will never defpair of obtaining it. Continue and 
increafe thofe 'defires, and at length fatisfy and exceed them 
all, through the riches of thy grace in Chrifl Jefus'! 
Amen." 

(q) Gen. xlix. 18. 

CHAP. XXV. 

THE CHRISTIAN STRUGGLING UNDER GREAT AND HEAVY 
" AFFLICTIONS. 

Here it is advifed, ( I.) That qffliSions Jhould be expeBed. §. I. 
(2.) That the righteous hand of Godjhoidd be acknowledged 
in them, when they tome* §. 2. (3.) That they Jhould he 
borne with patience. J.' 3. (4.) That the divine con duel in 
them Jhould be cordially approved. §. 4. (5.) That thankful- 
nefs Jhould be maintained in the midjl of trials. §. 5. (6.) 
That the dejign of affliction Jhould be diligently enquired irrto 9 
and all proper ajflfiance taken in difcovering it. §. 6. (7.) 
That when it is difcovered, it Jhould humbly be complied with 
and anfwered. §. 7. A prayer fuited to fuch a cafe. 

§. 1 . QlNCE 'man is born unto trouble, as the fparks; 
rly upward,' (a) and Adam has intailed on all his race 
the fad inheritance of calamity in their way to death, it 
will certainly be prudent and neceflary, that we mould 
all expect to meet with trials and afflictions ; and that you, 
reader, whoever you are, mould oe endeavoring to gird on 
your armour, and put yourfelf into a pofture to encoun- 
ter thofe trials, which will fall to your lot as a man, and a 
Chriftian. Prepare yourfelf to receive afflictions, and to 
endure them, in a manner agreeable to both thofe charac- 
ters. In this view, when you fee others under the bur- 
then, confider how pofllble it is, that you may be called 
eut to the very fame difficulties, or to others equal to 

y them, 

(aj Job. Y. 7. 



a 7 2 Affiiftwnjhould be than JtfuUy received 9 Ch . 2 5 . 

them. Put your foul> as in the place of theirs. Think,ho\v you 
could endure the load, under which they lie ; and endeav- 
or at once, to comfort them, and to itrengthen your own 
heart : Or rather pray, that God would do it. And ob- 
ferving how liable mortal life is to fuch forrows, moder- 
ate your expectations from it ; raife your thoughts above 
it; and form your fchemes of happinefs, only for that 
world, where they cannot be difappointed : In the mean 
time, bleffing God, that your profperity is lengthened out 
thus far, and afcribing it to his ipecial providence, that 
you continue fo long unwounded, when fo many ihowers 
of arrows are flying around you, andfo many are fall- 
ing by them, on the right handj and on the left. 

§. 2. When at length your turn comes, as it certainly 
will, from the firft hour in which an affliction feizes you, 
realize to yourfelf the hand of God in it, and lofe not the 
view of him in any fecond caufe, which may have proved 
the immediate occafion. Let it be your firft care, to 
.' humble yourfelf under the mighty hand of God, that he 
may exalt you in due time, (b) Own, that * he is juft in 
all that is brought upon vou,' (c) and that in all theie 
things ' he punifhes you lefs than your iniquities deferve.' 
<(dj Compofe to yourfelf to bear his hand with patience, 
to glorify his name by a fubmiilion to his will, and to fall 
in with the gracious defign of his vilitation, as well 
as to wait the iifue of it quietly, whatibever the event 
may be. 

§. 3. Now that patience may ' have its perfect work,' 
(e) reflect frequently, and deeply, upon your own mean- 
nefs and fmfulneis- Coniider, how often every mercy- 
has been forfeited, and every judgment deferved. And 
confider too, how long the patience of God hath borne 
with you, and how wonderfully it is ftill exerted towards 
you ; and indeed, not only his patience, but his bounty 
too. Afflicted as you are, (for I fpeak to you now as ac- 
tually under the prefTure,) look round and furvey your 
remaining mercies, and be gratefully fenfible of them. 
Ma^evdie luppoiition of their being removed : What if 

God 
. (b 1 1 Fet. v. 6. (c) Neh. ix. 33. . (d) Ezr. ix. 13 
(.e) Jari:, i-4. 






Ch. 25. and care be taken to anfwer itt defign. 273 

God fhould ftretchouthis handagainft you, and add poverty 
to pain, or pain to povertf, or the lofs of friends to both : 
or the death of furviving friends to that of thofe whom 
you are now mourning over ; would not the wound be more 
^grievous ? Adore his goodnefs, that this is not the cafe ; 
and take heed, left your unthankfulnefs fhould provoke 
him to multiply your forrows. Confider alfo the need 
you have of dilcipline ; how whoiefome it may prove to 
your foul, and what merciful defigns our heavenly father 
has, in all the corrections he fends upon his children. 

§. 4. Nay I will add, that, in confequence of all thefe 
confiderations it may we'll be expected, not only that you 
fhould fubmit to your afflictions as what you cannot a- 
void, but that you fhould fweetly acquielce in them and 
approve them ; that you fhould not only juftify, but glo- 
rify God in fending them ; that you fhould glorify him 
with your heart, and with your lips too. Think not 
praife unfuitable on fuch an occafion ? nor think that 
praife alone to be fuitable, which takes its rife from re- 
maining comforts : But know that it is your duty, not 
only to be thankful in your ami&ions, but to be thankful 
on account of them. 

§. 5. God himfelf has faid, ■ in every thing give 
thanks ;' (f) and he has taught his fervants to fay, * yea 
alfo we glory in tribulation.' [g] And molt certain it is, 
that to true believers they are initances of divine mercy ; 
for « whom the Lord loveth he chaileneth, and fcourgeth 
every fon whom he receiveth , with peculiar and dillin- 
guifhed endearment, [h] View yourprefent afflictions in 
this light, as chaftifements of love ; and then let your 
own heart fay, whether love does not demand praife. — . 
Think with yourfelf, " It is thus that God is making me 
conformable to his own fon ; it is thus that he is training 
me up for complete glory. Thus he kills my corrup- 
tions ; thus he ftrengthens my graces ; thus he is wifely 
contriving to bring me nearer to himfelf, and to ripen me 
Cor the honors of his heavenly kingdom. It is * if need 
be, that I am in heavinefs ;' [i] and he furely knows 
what that need is better than I can pretend to teach him ; 

and 

[f] 1 ThefT. v. 18. [g] Rom. v. 3. [h] Heb, xii. 6, 
£i] 1 Pet. i. 6. 



274 AffliS&onJbould be thankfully received. Ch. 1§* 

find "knows what peculiar property there is in this affliction, 
to aniwer my prefent neceffity, and to do me that peculiar 
good which he is gracioufly intending me by it. This 
tribulation mail ' work patience, and patience experience, 
and experience a more aimredhope ; even a hope which mall 
not make afhamed, while the love of God is fhed abroad in my 
heart,' [k] and mines through my affliction, like the fun 
through .a gently defcending cloud, darting in light upon 
the made, and mingling fruitfulnefs with weeping." 

§. 6. Let it be then yourearneft care, while you thus 
look on your affliction, whatever it may be, as coming 
from the hand of God, to improve it to the purpofes for 
which it was fent. And that you may fo improve it, let 
it be your firft concern, to know what thofe purpofes are. 
Summon up all the attention of your foul, to * hear the 
rod and him who hath appointed it ; [1] and pray 
earneftly, that you may underftand its voice. Examine 
your life, your words, and your heart, and pray, that God 
would fo guide your enquiries, that you may * return un- 
to the Lord that fmiteth you.* £ m] To affift you in this, 
call in the help of pious friends, and particularly of your 
minifters : Intreat, not only their prayers but their ad- 
vices too, as to the probable defign of providence ; and 
encourage them freely to tell you any thing which occurs 
to their minds upon this head. And if fuch an occafion 
mould lead them to touch upon fome of the imperfections 
of your character and conduct, look upon it as a great 
token of their friendmip, and take it, not only patiently, 
but thankfully. It does but ill become a Chriftian at any 
time, to refent reproofs and admonitions ; and leaft of all 
does it become him, when the rebukes of his heavenly fa- 
ther are upon him. He ought rather to feek admonitions 
at fuch a time as this, and voluntarily to offer his wounds 
to be fearched by a faithful and fkilful hand. 

§. 7. And when, by one mean or another, you have 
got a ray of light to direct you in the meaning and lan- 
guage of fuch difpenfation, take heed, that you do not, 
in any degree, ' harden yourfelf againft God, and walk 
contrary to him.' [n] Obftinate reluctance to the appre- 
hended 

[k] Rom. v. 3,4,5. H Mic. vi, 9. [m] Ifai. u. 13. 
[rQ Lev, xxvi, 27. 



Ch. 25. An humble addrefs to God. 275 

hended defign of any providential ftroke is inexpreffibly 
provoking to him. Set yourfelf therefore to an immedi- 
ate reformation of whatever you difcover amifs ; and la- 
bour to learn the general lelTons of greater fubmiffion to 
God's will, of a more calm indifference to the world, 
and of a clofer attachment to divine converfe and to the 
views of an approaching inviiible date. And whatever 
particular proportion or correfpondence you may obferve, 
between this or that circumdance in your affliction, and 
your former tranfgreflions, be efpecially careful to act ac- 
cording to that more peculiar and exprefs voice of th« 
rod. Then you may, perhaps, have fpeedy and remarka- 
ble reafon to fay, that ' it hath been good for you that 
you have been afflicted ;' [o] and with a multitude of 
others, may learn to number the time of your fharpefl tri- 
als, among the fweeted and the mod exalted moments of 
your life. For this purpofe, let prayer be your frequent 
employment j and let fuch .fentiments as thefe, if not in 
the very fame terms, be .often and affectionately poured 
eut before God. 

An. humble Address to God, under the prejfure of heavy af* 
fltftionu 

" O thou fupreme, yet all righteous and gracious gov- 
ernor of the whole univerfe ! Mean and inconfiderable as 
this little province of thy fpacious empire may ap? 
pear, thou dod not difregard the earth and its inhabi- 
tants ; but attended to its concerns with the: mod conde- 
scending and gracious regards. ' Thou reigned and I 
rejoice in it, as it is indeed matter of univerfal joy.' [p3 
I believe thy univerfal providence and care ; and L firm* 
ly believe thy wife, holy and kind interpofition in every 
thing which relates to me and to the circumdances of my 
abode in this thy world. I would look through all infe- 
rior caufes unto thee, whofe eyes are upon all thy crea- 
tures ; to thee, 'who formefl the light, and created dark- 
nefs, who maked peace and created evil ;? [q] to thee, 
Lord, -who at thy pleafure cand exchange the one for the 

other» 
\ E°] PfaT.cxix. 71. [p] Pfal. xcvii. 1. [q] Ifai. xlv. 7, 



a?6 An humble addrefs to God, Ch. 2$* 

ether, canft turn the brighteft noon into midnight, and 
the darkeft midnight into noon. 

" O thou wife and merciful governor of the world ! I 
have often faid thy will be done. And now, thy will is 
painful to me. But lhall I, upon that account, unfay what 
I have fo often faid '? God forbid ! I come rather to lay 
myfelf down at thy feet, and to declare my full and free 
fubmiftion to all thy facred pleafure. O Lord, thou art juft 
and righteous in all ! I acknowledge in thy venerable 
and awful prefence, that I ' have deferved this, and ten 
thoufand times more.' [r] I acknowledge, that * it is of 
thy mercy, that I am not utterly confumed, , [s] and that 
any the leaft degree of comfort yet remains. O Lord, I 
moft readily confefs, that the fins of one day of my life 
have merited all thefe chaftifements ; and that every day 
ef my life hath been more or lefs finful. Smite therefore, 
O thou righteous judge ; and I will ftill adore thee, that 
inftead of the fcourge, thou hall not given a commiffion 
to the fword, to do all the dreadful work of juftice, and to 
pour out my blood in thy prefence. 

** But fhall I fpeak unto thee, only as my judge f O 
Lord, thou haft taught me a tenderer name : Thou con- 
descended to call thyfelf my father, and to fpeak of cor- 
rection as the effect of thy love. O welcome, welcome 
thofe afflictions, which are the tokens of thy parental af- 
fection, the marks of my adoption into thy family ! Thou 
knoweft what difcipline I need. Thou feeft, O Lord, 
that bundle of folly, which there is in the heart of thy poor, 
froward and thoughtlefs child : And knoweft, what rods, 
and what ftrokes are needful to drive it away. I would 
therefore * be in humble fubjedtion to the father of fpirits, 
who chafteneth me for my profit ; would be in fubjeclion 
to him, and live.' [t | I would bear thy ftrokes, not 
merely becaufe I cannot refill them, but becaufe I love 
and truft in thee. I would fweetly acquiefce and reft in 
thy will, as well as ftoop to it ; and would fay l good is 
the word of the Lord.' [u] And I defire, that mot only 
my lips, but my foul may acquiefce. Yea, Lord, I would 
praife thee, that thou wilt fhewfo much regard to me, as 

to 

[r] Ezr. ix. 13. [s] Lam. iii. 22. [t] Heb. xii.9, 1©. 
(.uj 2 Kings xx. 19. 



€h. 24. under the prejfure of heavy qffliftion. 277 

to apply fuch remedies as thefe to the difeafes of my mind, 
and art thus kindly careful to train me up for glory. I 
have no objection againft being afflicted, agaiftft being af- 
flicted in this particular way. * The Cup which my fa- 
ther puts into mine hand, mall I not drink it \* [x | By 
thine abidance and fupport I will. Only be pleafed, O 
Lord, to fland by me, and fometimes to grant me a fa- 
vourable look, in the midft of my fuffering ! Support my 
foul, I befeech thee, by thy confolations mingled with my 
tribulations ; and I fhall glory in thole tribulations that 
are thus allayed ! It has been the experience of many, 
who have reflected on afflicted days with pleafure, and 
have acknowledged that their comforts have fwallowed 
up their forrows. And after all that thou haft done 'are 
thy mercies reftrained V [y] ' Is thy hand waxed ihort/ 
[z J or canft thou not ftill do the fame for me ? ; 

" If my heart be lefs tender, lefs fenfible, thou canft 
cure that diforder, and canft make this affliction the mean 
of curing it. Thus let it be ; and at length in thine own 
due time, and in the way which thou fnalt chufe, work 
out deliverance for me ; and ' ihew me thy marvellous 
loving-kindnefs, O thou that faveft by thy right-hand 
them that put their truft in thee !' f a J For I well know, 
that how dark foever this night of affliction feem, if thou 
fayeft, let there be light, there ihall be light. But I would 
urge nothing before the time thy wifdom and goodnefs 
fhall appoint. I am much more concerned that my 
afflictions may be fanctified, than that they may be 
removed. Number me, O God, among the happy perfons, 
whom whilft thou chafteneft, thou * teacheft out of thy 
law!' [b] * Shew me, I befeech thee, wherefore thou 
contended with me ; [c] and purify me by the fire, 
which is fo painful to me, while I am pa fling through it ! 
Doft thou not * chaften thy children for this very end, 
that they may be partakers of thine holinefs !' [d | Thou 
knoweft, O God, it is this my foul is breathing after. I 
am partaker of thy bounty, every day and moment of 
life: I am partaker of thy gofpel, and, I hope, in fome 

meafure 

£x] .Tohnxviii. 11. [y] Ifai. lxiii. 15. [z] Numb. xi. 23. 
[a] Pfal.xvii. 7. [bj Pfsd. xciv. 12. . [cj Job x. 2. 
[dj Heb. xii. l©» 



278 The Chriftian will defire growth in grace* Ch. 26 

meafure too, a partaker of the grace of it operating onmy 
heart : O may it operate more and more, that I may 
largely partake of thine holinefs too ; that I may come 
nearer and nearer in the temper of my mind to thee, O 
blefTed God, the fupreme model of perfection ! Let my 
foul be (as it were) melted, though with the intenfefl 
heat of the furnace, if I may but thereby be made fit for 
being delivered into the mold of thy gofpel, and bearing 
thy bright and amiable image ! 

" O Lord, * my foul longeth for thee ; it crieth out for 
the living God !' [e] In thy prefence, and under the 
fupport of thy love, I can bear any thing ; and am willing 
to bear it, if I may grow more lovely in thine eyes, and 
more meet for thy kingdom. The. days of my affliction 
will have an end ; the hour will at length come, when 
' thou wilt wipe away all my tears/ [fj ? Tho' it tarry, I 
would wait for it.' [g] My fooliih heart, in the midft of 
all its trials, is ready to grow fond of this earth, 
difappointing and grievous as it is : and gracioufly, O 
God, dolt thou deal with me, in breaking thofe bonds that 
would tie me fafter to it. O let my foul be girding itfelf 
up, and (as it were) ftretching its wings in expectation of 
that blefTed. hour, when it fh all drop all its forrows and 
incumbrances at once, and foar away to expatiate with 
infinite "delight in the regions of liberty, peace, and Joy I 
Amen." 

[e] Pfal. lxxxiv. 2. [f j Rev. xxi. 4. fg] Hab. ii. 3. 



CHAP. XXVI. 

THE CHRISTIAN ASSISTED IN EXAMINING INTO HIS 
GROWTH IN GRACE. 

The examination important. §. 1. Falfe marks qf growth to he 
avoided. §• .2. True marks propofed ; fuch as, (l.) In- 
creafing love to God. ^. 3. (2.) Benevolence to men. §. 4* 
($.) Candour of difpojition. §. 5. 'fo-j Meeknefs under in^ 

1 ■ " juries* 



€h. 2 6\ The Chrifthn will dejire growth In grace* 279 

juries* §. 6. ^5.^ Serenity amidjl the uncertainties of life* 
§. 7. (6.) Humility, §. 8. ejpe daily as exprejfed in evange- 
■ Ileal exercifes, ef the mind towards Chrtft and the jpiriu {. 9. 
(7.) "Zeal for the divine honor. §. 10. (8.) Habitual and 
chtarful willingnefs to exchange worlds whenever God Jhall 
appoint it. §. 11. Condition* §><. 12. 7#<? ChriHian breath* 
mg after growth in grace* 



'§. 1. IF by divine grace you Have been ' born again s 
•not of corruptible feed, but of incorruptible,' (a) even " by 
that word ©f God, which liveth and abideth forever,' 3 ' 
not only in the world and church, but in particular fouls 
in which it is fown ; you will, * as new born babes, defire 
the fmcere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby." 
fb) And though in the moft advanced ftate of religion 
on earth, we are but infants in companion cf what we 
1 hope to be, when in the heavenly world we arrive • unto 
a perfect man, unto the meafure of the ftature of the ful- 
nefs of Chrift ;' c) yet as we have fome exercife of a 
fanetified reafon,*we mail be folioitous that we may be 
growing and thriving infants. And you, my reader, * if 
fo be that you have tailed that the Lord is gracious,' (d) 
will, I doubt not, feel this folicitude. I would, theref ores, 
endeavour to affift you in making the enquiry, whether 
religion be on the advance in your fouls. And here, I 
(hall warn you agamft fome falfe marks of growth ; and 
then, ihall endeavour to lay down others on which yon 
may depend as more folid — In this view I would cbi'erve, 
that you are not tc meafure your growth in grace, only or 
chiefly by yr-.ur advances in knowledge, or in zeal, or any 
other paffionate impreffion of the mind ; no, nor by the 
fervour of devotion alone ; but by the habitual determi- 
nation of the will for God, and by your prevailing difpo- 
fition to obey his commands, to fubmit to his difpofal, and 
to fubferve his fchemes in the world. 

§* 2. It muft be allowed, that knowledge, and afTeclion 

in religion, are indeed deniable. W ithcut fome degree 

of the former, religion cannot be rational ; and it is very 

Z reafonable 

(a) 1 Pet. i. 23. (b) i Pet. ii. 2, (c) Eph. iv, 13, 

(d) 1 Pet. ii, 3. 



1 So Caution agatnft falfe marls of growth. Ch. 26. 

reafonable to believe, that without fome degree of the lat- 
ter, it cannot be fincere, in creatures whole natures are 
conftituted like ours. Yet there may be a great deal of 
ipeculative knowledge, and a great deal of rapturous af- 
fection, where there is no true religion at all ; and there- 
fore much more, where there is no advanced ftate in it. 
The exercife of our rational faculties, upon the evidences 
of divine revelation, and upon the declaration of it as con- 
tained in fcripture, may furnifh a very wicked man with 
a well digefted body of orthodox divinity in his head, 
when not one fmgle doctrine of ir has ever reached his 
heart. An eloquent defcription of the fufferings ofChrift, 
of the folemnities of judgment, of the joys of the blened 
and the miferies of the damned, might move the breaft 
even of a man who did not firmly believe them ; as we of- 
ten find ourfelves ftrongly moved by well-wrought nar- 
rations, ordifcourfes, which, at the fame time, we know to 
have their foundation in fiction. Natuiai conftitution, or 
fbch accidental caufes as are fome of them too low to be 
here mentioned, may fupply the eyes with a flood of 
tears, which may difcharge itfelf plenteoufly upon almoft 
any occauon that fliail fir ft arife. And a pioud impati- 
ence of contradiction, directly oppofite as it is to the gentle 
fpirit of chriftianity, may make a man's blood boil, when 
he hears the notions he has entertained, and efpecially 
thofe which he has openly and \igoroufly efpoufed, dis- 
puted and oppofed. This may poffibly lead him, in terms 
of ftrong indignation, to pour out ins zeal and his rage 
before God, in a fond conceit, that, as the God of truth, 
he is the patron of thofe favourite doctrines, by whofe fair 
appearances, perhaps, he himfelf is mifled. And if thefe 
fpeculative refinements, or thefe affectionate fallies of the 
mind, be coniiftent with a total abfence of true religion, 
they are much more apparently confiftent with a very 
low eftate of it. I would defire to lead you, my friend, 
into fublimer notions and jufter marks ; and refer you to 
other practical writers, and above all to the book of God, 
to prove how material they are. I would therefore in- 
treat you, to bring your own heart to anfwer, as in the 
prefence of God, to fuch inquiries as thefe. 

§. 3. Do you find " divine love, on the whole, advanc- 
ing 



Ch. 26. True marls of it are /o've to Cody ' 281 

. ing in your foul ?" — Do you feel yourfelf more and more 
fenfible of the prefence of God ; and does thatfenfe grow- 
more delightful to you, than it formerly was ? Can you, 
even when your natural fpirits are weak and low, and you 
are not in any frame for the ardors and extafies of devo- 
tion, neverthelefs find a pleafmg reft, a calm repofe of 
heart, in the thought that God is near you, and that he 
fees the fecret fentiments of your foul ? while you are, as 
it were, labouring up the hill, and calling a longing eye 
towards him, though you cannot fay you enjoy any fenfi- 
ble communications from him ? Is it agreeable to you to 
open your heart to his infpection and regard, to prefent it 
to him laid bare of every difguife, and to fay with David, 
' thou, Lord, knoweft thy fervant !' (e) Do you find a 
growing efleem and approbation of that facred law of 
God, which is the tranfcript of his moral perfections ? 
Do you inwardly * efleem all his precepts concerning all 
things to be right ?' (f) Do you difcern, not only the ne- 
ceffity, but the reafonablenefs, the beauty, the pleafure of 
obedience ; and feel a growing fcorn and contempt of 
thofe things, which may be offered as the price of your 
innocence, and would tempt you to facrifice or to hazard 
your interefl in the divine favour and friendfhip ? Do you 
find an ingenuous defire to pleafe God ; not only becaufe 
he is fo powerful, and has fo many good and fo many e- 
vil things entirely at his command ; but from a venera T 
tion of his mofl amiable nature and character ? Anddoyou 
find your heart habitually reconciled to a mofl humble 
fubjection, both to his commanding, and to his difpofing 
will ? Do you perceive, that your own will is now more 
ready and difpofed, in every circumflance, to bear the 
yoke, and to fubmit to the divine determination, whatever 
he appoints to be born or forborn ? Can you ' in patience - 
poffefs your foul ?' (g; Can you maintain a more fleady 
culmnefs and ferenitv, when God is flriking at your dear- 
eft enjoyments in this world, and acting mod directly con- 
trary to your prefent interefts, to your natural paffions 
and defires ? If you can, it is a mofl certain and noble fign, 
that grace is grown up in you to a very vigorous ftate. 
$. 4. Examine alio, " what affections yen find in your 

heart 
(e} 2 Sam. vii. 20. (f) Pfal. cxix. 128. (g) Luke xxi. 19. 



3g2 - and benevolence to men* Gh. 26* 

heart towards thofe who are round about you, and to- 
wards the reft of mankind in general.' ' — Do you find your 
heart overflow with undiffembled and unreftrained bene- 
volence ? Are you more fenfible than you once were, of 
thofe many endearing bonds, which unite all men, and 
efpecially all Chriflians, into one community ; which 
make them brethren and fellow citizens ? Do all the un- 
friendly paffions. die and wither in your foul, while the 
land focial affections grow and ftrengthen ? Aad though 
felf love was never the reigning paffion, fmce you frecame 
a true Chriftian ; yet, as fome remainders of it are ftill too 
ready to work inwardly, and to fhew themfelves, efpecial- 
ly as fudden occafions arife, do you perceive, that you get 
ground of them • Do you think of yourfelf only as one 
of a great number, ivhofe particular interefts and concerns 
are of little importance when compared with thofe of the 
community, and ought by all means, oh all occafions, ta 
be facrificed to them ? 

§. 5. Reflect efpecially ' on the temper of your mind 
towards thofe, whom an unfanctified heart might be ready 
to imagine, it had fome juft excufe for excepting out of 
the lift of thofe it loves, and towards whom you are ready 
to feel a fecr-et averfion, or at leaft an alienation from 
them.' — How does your mind ftand affected towards thofe 
who differ from you in their religious fentiments and 
practices ? I do not fay, that Chriftian charity will require 
you. to think every error harmlefs. It argues no want of 
love to a friend" in fome cafes, to fear left his diforder 
ftiould prove more fatal than he feems to imagine ; nay 
fcmetimes, the very tendernefs of friendfhip may encreafe 
that app.rehenfion. But to hate perfons becaufe we think 
they are miftaken, and to aggravate every difference in 
judgment or .practice into a fatal and damnable error that 
deftroys all Chriftian communion and love, is a fymptom 
generally much worfe than the evil it condemns. Do 
you love the image of Chriftina perion, who thinks him- 
felf obliged in conference to profefs and worihip in a 
manner different from yourfelf? Nay farther, can you 
love and honor that which is truly amiable and excellent, 
in thofe, in whom much is defective : in thofe, in whom 
there is a mixture of bigotry and nairownefs of fpirit, 

which 



Ch. 26. Other marh are charity and meeknefs, 283 

which may lead them perhaps to flight, or- even to cenfum 
you ? Can you love them, as the difciple* and fervants of 
Chrift, who through a miftaken zeal may he ready to 
* caft out your name as evil/ (h) and to warn offers a- 
gainft you as a dangerous perfon ? This is nople of the 
leaft triumphs of charity, nor any defpicable. evidence of 
an advance in religion. 

§. 6. And, on this head, reflect farther, "how can 
you bear injuries ?" — -There is a certain hardinefs of foal in 
this refpeft, which argues a confirmed ft ate in piety and 
virtue. Does every thing of this kind hurry and ruffle 
you, fo as to put you on contrivances, how you may re- 
compence, or at leaft, how you may difgrace and expofe 
him, who has done you the wrong ? Or can you ftand the 
fhock calmly, and eafily divert your mind to other ob- 
jects, only (when you recollect thefe things,) pitying and 
praying for thofe, who with the worft tempers and views 
are affaultingyou ? This is aChriit-like temper indeed; and 
he will own it as fuch ; will own you, as one of his fol- 
diers, as one of his heroes ; efpecially if it rifes fo far, as 
inftead of i being overcome of evil, to overcome evil with 
good.' (i) Watch over your fpirits, and over your tongue, 
when injuries are offered; and fee whether you be 
ready to meditate upon them, to aggravate them to your- 
felf, to complain of them to others, and to lay on all the 
load of blame that you injuftice can ; or whether you be 
ready to put the kinder! conftrudtion upon the offence, to 
excufe it as far as reafon will allow, and (where, after all, 
it will wear a black and odious afpect) to forgive it, hear- 
tily to forgive it, and that even before any fubmiflion is 
made, or pardon ailced ; and in token of the fmcerity of 
that forgivenefs, to be contriving what can be done, by 
fome benefit or other towards the injurious perfon, to teach 
him a better temper. 

§. 7. Examine farther, * with regard to the other evils 
and calamities of life, and even with regard to its uncer- 
tainties how can you bear them V — Do you find your 
foul is, in this refpect, gathering ftrength ? Have you few- 
er foreboding fears and diiquieting alarms, than you once 
had, as to what may happen in life : Can you truft the 

z wifdora 

(h) Luke vi» 22, (i) Rom. ?»i> 21. 






284 Fortitude of mind, and humility, Ch. 26, 

wifdom and goodnefs of God, to order your affairs for 
you with more complacency and chearfulnefs than for- I 
merly ? Do you find, you are able to unite your thoughts | 
more ia furveying prefent circumftances, that you may i 
collect immediate duty from them though you know not I 
what God will next appoint or call you to : And when j 
you feel the fmart of affliction., do you make a lefs matte? i 
of it ? Can you transfer your heart moreeafily to heaven- j 
ly and divine objects, without an anxious folicitude whe- 
ther this or that burthen be removed, fo it may but be- : 
fanctitied to 'promote your communion with God, and 
your ripenefs for glory ? 

§. 8. Examine alfo, * whether you advance in humili- 
ty.' — This is a filent,but moit excellent grace ; and they, 
who are moit eminent in it, are deareft to God, and moit 
fit for the communications of his prefence to them. Do 
you then feel your mind more emptied of proud and 
haughty imaginations ? Not prone fo much to look back 
upon patl fervices which it has performed, as forward to 
thofe which are yet before you, and inward upon the re- 
maining imperfections of your heart j Do you more ten- 
derly obferve your daily flips and mifcariages, and find 
yourielf difpofed. to mourn over thofe things before the 
Lurd, that once palled with you as flight matters ; though 
when you come to furvey them, as in the prefence of God, 
you find they were not wholly involuntary, or free from 
guilt ? Do you feel in your breaft a deeper apprehenfion 
of the infinite majefty of the bleffed God, and of the glo- 
ry of his natural and moral perfections ; fo as, in confe- 
quence of thefe views, to perceive yourfelf ' v as it were an- 
nihilated in his prefence, and to fhrink into * lefs than no- 
thing, and vanity ?' (k) If this be your temper, God will 
look upon you with peculiar favour, and will vifit you 
more and more with the diftinguifhed bleffings of his 
grace. 

§. 9. But there is another great branch and effect of 
Chriftian-humility, which it would be an unpardonable 
negligence to omit. Let me therefore farther enquire : 
Are you more frequently renewing your application, your 
iincere, Heady, determinate application, to the righteouf- 

nefs 
(k) Ifai. xh 17. 



Ch. l6i A Jleady regard to Chrlft and the fplrlt. 285 

nefs and blood of Chrlft ; as being fenfible how unworthy 
you are to appear before God, otherwife than in him ? 
And do the remaining corruptions of your heart humble 
you before him, though the diforders of your life are in a 
great meafure cured ? Are you more earneft to obtain the 
quickening influences of the holy Ipirit ; and have you 
fuch a fenie of your own weaknefs, as to engage you to 
depend, in ail the daties you perform, upon the commu- 
nications of his grace to * help your infirmities ?' (li Can 
you, at the cloie of your moft religious, exemplary, and 
ufeful days, blufh before God for the deficiencies of them, 
while others, perhaps, may be ready to admire and extol 
your conduct ? And while you give the glory of all that 
has been right to him, from whom the ftrength and grace 
has been derived, are you coming to the blood of iprinkling, 
to free you from the guilt which mingles itfelf even with 
the heft of your fervices ? Do you learn to receive the 
bounties of providence, not only with thankfulnefs as com- 
ing from God, but with a mixture of fhame and confuii- 
on too, under a confcioufnefs that you do not deferve 
them, and are continually forfeiting them ? And do you 
juftify providence in your afflictions and difappointments, 
even while many are flouriihing around you in the full 
bloom of profperity, whole offences have been more vifible 
at leaft, and more notorious than yours ? 

•§. 10. Do you alfo advance in " zeal and activity, for 
the fervice of God, and the happinefs of mankind ?" — Does 
your love mow itfelf folid and fmceie, by a continual 
flow of good works from it ? Can you view the forrows 
of others with tender companion, and with projects and 
contrivances what you may do to relieve them ? Do you 
feel in your bread, that you are more frequently * deviling 
liberal things,' (m) and ready to wave your own advan- 
tage or plealurethat you may accomplilh them ? Do you 
find your imagination teeming (as it were) with concepti- 
ons and fchemes, for the advancement of the caufe and 
interefl of Chrift in the world, for the propagation of his 
gofpel, and for the happinefs of your fellow-creatures ? 
And do you not only pray, but act for it ; act in fuch a 
manner, as to fhew that you pray in earneft ; and feel a 

readinefs 
( (1) Rom. viii. 26. (m) Ifai. xxxii. 8, 



2 86 The Chrlftlan breathing after growth in grace. Ch. 2&' 

readinefs to do what little you can in this caufe, even 
though others,who might, if they pleafed, very convenient-* 
ly do a vaft deal more, will do nothing ? 

§. ii. And, not to enlarge on this copious head, re- 
flect: once more * how your affecti®ns (land, with regard to 
this world and another.' — Are you more deeply and 
practically convinced of the vanity of thefe things which 
are feen, and are temporal?' (n) Do you perceive your 
expectations from them and your attachments to them, to 
diminifh ? You are willing to flay in this world, as long as 
your father pleafes ; and it is right and well : But do you 
iind your bonds fo loofened to it, that you are willing, 
heartily willing, to leave it at the fhorteft warning ; fo 
that if God fhould fee fit to fummon you away on a fud- 
den, though it fhould be in the midft of ycur enjoyments, 
purfuits, expectations, and hopes, you would cordially con- 
lent to that remove ; without faying, " Lord, let me ftay 
a little while longer, to enjoy this or that agreeable enter- 
tainment, to finim this or that fcheme ?" Can you think 
with an habitual calmnefs and hearty approbation, if fuch 
be the divine pleafure, of waking no more when you lie 
down on your bed, of returning home no more when yorv 
go out of your houfe ? And yet on the other hand, how 
great foeve'r the burthens of life are, do you find a willing- 
nefs to bear them, in fubmiffion to the will of your heaven- 
ly father, though it mould be to many future years ; and 
though they mould be years of far greater affliction, than 
you have ever yet feen £ Can you fay calmly and fteadily, 
if not with fuch overflowing of tender affections as ycu 
could delire, " Behold thy fervent, thy child, is in thine 
hand, do with me as feemeth good in thy fight !' (o) My 
will is melted into thine ; to be lifted up or laid down, to 
be carried out or brought in* to be here or there, in this or 
that circum (lance, juft as thou pleafeft, and as fhall beft 
fuit with thy great extenfive plan, which it is impoffible 
that I, or all the angels of heaven, fhould mend." 

§, 12. Thefe, if I underftand matters aright, are fome 
of the moft fubftantial evidences of growth and eftablifh- 
ment in religion. Search after them : Blefs God for 
them, fo far as you difcover them in yourfelf ; and fiudy 

(n) 2 Cor. iv. 28. (o) 2 Sam. xv. 26. 



Ch. 26. The Chriftian breathing after growth m grace, 287 

to advance in them daily, under the influences of divine 
grace, to which I heartily recommend you, and to which 
I intreat you frequently to recommend yourfelf. 

The Chrijiian breathing earnejily after growth in grace* 

" O thou ^ever blelfed fountain of natural and 
fpiritual life ! I thank thee, that I live, and know the 
exercifes and pleafures of a religious life. I blefs thee, that 
thou haft infufed into me thine own vital breath, though 
I was once * dead in trefpaifes and fins,' fp) fo that I am 
become, in a fenfe peculiar to thine own children, a living 
foul.' (q) But it is mine earneft defire, that I may not on- 
ly live but grow ; * grow in grafce, and in the knowledge 
of my Lord and Saviour Jeius Chri-ft,' (r) upon an ac<^ 
cmaintance with whom my progrefs in it fo evidently de- 
pends ! In this view I humbly intreat thee, that thcu wilt 
form my mind to right notions in religion, that I may not 
judge of grace by any wrong conceptions of it, nor mea- 
fure my advances in it by thofe things, which are merely 
the effects of nature, and poflibly its corrupt effects ! 

" May I be feeking after an increafe of divine love to 
thee, my God and father in Chrift, of unreferved refigna-, 
tion to thy wife and holy will, and of extenfive benevo- 
lence to my fellow-creatures ! May I grow in patience 
and fortitude of foul, in humility and zeal, in fpirituality 
and a heavenly difppfition of mind, and in a concern, that 
' whether prefent or abfent I may be accepted of the 
Lord,' (s) that whether I live or die it may be for his 
glory I In a word, as thou knoweft I hunger and thirfl. 
after righteoufnefs, make me whatever thou wouldft de=. 
light to fee me ! Draw on my foul, by the gentle influ- 
ences of thy gracious fpirit, every trace and every feature, 
which thine eye, O heavenly father, may furvey with 
pleafure,and which thou may eft acknowledge as thine owr* 
image ! 

" I am fenfible, O Lord, I have not as yet attained : 
Yea, my foul is utterly confounded to think, ' how far I 
am from being already perfect : But this one thing, (after 

the 
(p) £ph. ii. 1. (q) Gen. ii. 7. (r) 1 Pet. iii. 18% 
(s) 2 Cor. v.. 9. 



283 Joy in God t our priviledge and duty. Ch. 27c 

the great example of thine apoftle, and the much greateT 
of his Lord,) I would endeavour to do ; forgetting the 
things which are behind, I would prefs forward to thofe 
which are before, (t) O that thou wouldft feed my foul 
by thy. word and fpirit ! Having been, as I humbly hope 
and truft, regenerated by it, ' being born again, not of cor- 
ruptiblefeed, but of incorruptible, even by thy word which 
liveth and abideth forever, (u) as a new-born babe, I de- 
fire the fmcere milk of tlie word, that I may grow there- 
by.' (x) And may * my profiting appear unto all men,' 
(y) till at length ' I come unto a perfect man, unto the 
meafure of the ftature of the fulnefs of Chrift ;' (z) and af- 
ter having enjoyed the pleafures of thofe that flourifh 
eminently in thy courts below, be fixed in the paradife a- 
bove ! I afk, and hope it through him, ' of whofe fulnefs 
we have all received, even grace for grace.' (a) To him 
be glory, both now and for ever 1' (bj Amen. 

(t) Phil. iii. 12. 13. (u) 1 Pet. i, 23. (x) 1 Pet. ii. 2. 
(y) 1. Tim. iv. 15. (z) Eph. iv. 13. (a) Jchni. 16. 
{b) 2 Pet. iii. 18. 



CHAP. XXVII. 



THE ADVANCED CHRISTIAN REMINDED OF THE MERCIE! 

OF GOD, AND EXHORTED TO THE EXERCISES OF 

HABITUAL LOVE TO HIM AND JoY IN HIM. 



An holy jay in God, our priviledge, as well as our duty. § . 1 . 
The Chriflian invited to the exercife of it ; }. 2. fl.J By 
the reprefenta'cion of temporal mercies* §. 3. (2.) By the 
conjideration of fpiritual favours. §. 4. ($.) By the views 
of eternal happinefs. §. 5. And, (\.) Of the mercies of 
God to others, the living, and the dead. §. 6. The chapter 
clofes with an exhortation to th'u heavenly exercife, §. 7. and 

with 



Ch, 27. The Chrtjiian urged to the exercife of It, 2^9 

with an example of the genuine workings of this grateful joy 

in God. 
.§. 1. t WOULD now fiippofe my reader to find, on an 
Jl examination of hisfpiritual ftate, that he is grow- 
ing in grace. And if you defire, that this growth may at 
once be acknowledged and promoted, Ifet me call ycrur foul 
to that more affectionate exercife of love to God and joy 
in him, which fuits, and ftrengthens, and exalts the cha- 
racter of the advanced Chriftian ; and which I befeech 
you. to regard, not only as your privilege, but as your du- 
ty too. Love is the mo ft fublime generous principle of 
all true and acceptable obedience ; and with love, when 
fo wifely and happily fixed, when fo certainly returned, 
joy, proportionable joy, mull naturally be connected. It 
may juftly grieve a man that enters into the fpirit of Chrif- 
tianity, to fee how low a life the generality even of fin- 
cere Chriftians commonly live in this refpect. * Rejoice 
then in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at the re- 
membrance of his holinefs,' (a) and of all thofe other per- 
fections and glories, which are included in that majeftick, 
that wonderful, that delightful name, The Lord thy 
God ! Spend not your facred moments merely in confef- 
fion, or in petition, though each muft have their daily 
Jhare : But give a part, a considerable part, to the celef- 
tial and angelick work of praife. Yea, labour to carry a- 
bout with you continually an heart overflowing with fuch 
fentiments, warmed and inflamed with fuch affections. 

§. 2. Are there not continually rays enough diffufed 
from the great father of light and love, to inkindle it in 
OHr bofom ? Gome, my Chriftian friend and brother, 
come and furvey with me the goodnefs of our heavenly 
father. And O that he would give me fuch a fenfe of it, 
that I might reprefent it in a fuitable manner ; that, * while 
I am mufmg, the fire may burn in my own heart,' (b) 
and be communicated to yours ! And O that it might 
pafs with the lines I write, frcm foul to foul ; awakening 
in the breaft of every Chriftian that reads them, fenti- 
ments more worthy of the children of God, and the heirs 
of glory ; who are to fpend an eternity in thofe facred ex- 
erciies, to which I am now endeavouring to excite you? 

§. 3. Have 
(a) Pfal. xcvii. 12. (b) Pfal. xxxix. 3. 



tgo ItJhouIdjiUhtmwhhjoy toreflefiy&c. €h. 27 

§. 3. Have you not reafon to adopt the words of Davia 
and fay, * how many are thy gracious thoughts unto me f 
O Lord ! How great is the fum of them ! When I would 
count them, they are more in number than the land.' (c) 
You, indeed, know, where to begin the furvey for the 
favours of God to you begun with your being, commemo- 
rate it therefore with a grateful heart, that the ' eyes t 
which faw your fubftance, being yet imperfect, beheld 
you with a friendly care, when you were made in fecret, 
a-nd have watched over you ever lince ; and that * the hand, 
which drew the plan of your members, when as yet there 
was none of them/ ■ d) not only fafhioned them at firft, 
but from that time has been .concerned in * keeping all 
your bones, fo that not one of them is broken ;' (ej and 
that, indeed, it is to this vou owe it, that you live. Look 
back upon the path you have trod, from the day that God 
brought you out of the womb, and fay whether you do 
not ■ as it were ) fee all the road thick fet with the marks 
and memorials of the divine goodnefs. Recollect the 
places where you have lived, and the perfons with whom 
you have mod intimately converfed ; and call to mind the 
mercies you have received in thole places, and from th®fe 
perfons, as the inftruments of the divine care and goodnefs. 
Recollect the difficulties and dangers, with which you 
have been furrounded ; and reflect attentively on what 
God hath done to defend you from them, or to carry you 
through them. Think, how often there has been ' but a 
Hep between you and death ;' and how fuddenly God 
hath fometimes interpofed to fet you in fafety, even before 
you apprehended your danger. Think of thofe chari.bers 
of illnefs, in which you have been confined, and from 
■whence, perhaps, you once thought youfhcuid go forthno 
more ; butfaid, (with Hezekiah : ' in the cutting off of your 
days, I uiall go to the gates of the grave, I am deprived of 
the refi due of my years.' '■£. God has, it may be, fmce 
that time, added many years to your life ; and you know 
riot how many -may be in referve, or how much ufefulneis 
and happinefs may attend each. Survey your circum- 
flances in relative life ; how many kind friends are fur- 
rounding 

(c) Pfal. cxxxix. 17, 18. (d) Pfal. cxxxix. 15, 16 
(e) Pfal. xxxiv* 20. {£) Ifai. xxxviii. 10, 



'Ch. 27. Itjhouldjill Mm with joy to reji-a, Sec. ^29/t 

rounding you daily, and ftudying how they may contrr- 
bute to your comfort. Reflect on thofe remarkable cir- 
■cumftances in providence, which occafloned the knitting 
of fome bonds of this kind, which, next to thofe which 
join your foul to God, you number among the happieft. 
And forget not, in how many inftances, when theie dear 
-lives have been threatened, lives, perhaps, more fenfibly 
dear than your own, God hath given •the'm back from the 
borders of the grave,and fo added new endearments ariimg 
from that tender circumftance to all your after converfe 
with them. Nor forget, in how gracious a manner he 
hath fupported fome others in their laft moments, and en- 
abled them to leave behind a fweet odour of piety, which 
hath embalmed their memories, revived yon when ready 
to faint under the forrows of the firit feparation, and, on 
the whole, made even the recolle&ion of their death de- 
lightful. 

§. 4. But it is more than time that I lead on your 
thoughts to the many fpiritual mercies which God hath 
beftowedupon you. Look back, as it were, to the ' rock 
from whence you werehewn,and to the hole of the pit from 
whence you were digged.' (g) ReflecT: feriouily on the ftate 
wherein divinegrace found you : under how much guilt : 
-tinder how much pollution ! in what danger, in' what ruin ! 
Think what was, and, 0,th ink with yet deeper reflection, what 
would have been the cafe ! The eye of God, which pene- 
trates into eternity, faw what your mind, amufedwith the 
trifles of prefent time and fenfual gratifications, was ut- 
terly ignorant and regardlefs of. It faw you on the bor- 
ders of eternity, and pitied you ; faw that you would in a 
little time have been fuch a helplefs wretched creature, as 
the finner that isjuft now dead, and has, to his infinite fur- 
prife and everlafting terror, met his unexpected doom, and 
woulc 1 , like him, (land thunder-ftruck in aftonifhment and 
defpair. This God faw, and he pitied you ; and being 
"merciful to you, he provided in the counfels of his eternal 
love and grace, a redeemer for you, and purchased you to 
himfelf with the blood of his fon ; a price, which, if you 
will paufe upon it, and think ferioufly what it was, muft 
furely affect you to fuch a degree as to make you fall down 
A a before 

(g) Ifai. li. Jo 



292 He fbould look forward to an eternal Jldte. Ch. 27. 

before God in wonder and mame, to think that it mould ever 
have been givenforyou. To accomplifh thefe bleiTed pur- 
pofes, he lent his grace into your heart ; fo that, though 
* you were once darknefs, you are now light in the Lord.' 
(h He made that happy change which you now feel in 
your fcul, and, 'by his holy fpirit which is given to you, he 
ihed abroad that principle of love,' (i) which is enkindled 
by this review, and now flames with greater ardor than 
before. Thus far he hath fupported you in your Chriitian 
courfe ; and, ' having obtained help from him it is, that 
you continue even to this day.' (k) Hehath not only 'blelTed 
you, but made you a bleffing :' (1) And though you have 
not been fo ufeful, as that holy generality of heart, which 
he has excited, would have engaged you to defire, yet fome 
good you have done in the Hation in which he has fixed 
you. Some of your brethren of mankind have been re- 
lieved, perhaps too fome thcughtlefs creature reclaimed 
to virtue and happinefs, by his bleffing on your endeavours. 
Some in the way to heaven,- are praifmg God for you ; 
and fome, perhaps, already there are longing for your ar- 
rival, that they may thank you in nobler and more ex- 
preilive forms for benefits, the importance of which they 
now fufficiently underftand, though while here they could 
never conceive it. 

§. 5. Chriftian, look round on the numberlefs bleiTmgs 
of one kind or another, with which you are already en- 
ccmpalTed ; and advance your profpecl: ftill farther, to 
what faith yet difcovers within the veil. Think of thofe 
now unknown tranfports, with which thou fhalt drop eve- 
ry burthen in the grave, and thine immortal fpirit fhall 
mount, light and joyful, holy and happy, Jto God, its ori- 
ginal, its fupport, and its hope ; to God, the .fource of be- 
ing, of holinefs, and of pleafure ; to Jefus, through whom 
all thefe mercies are derived to thee, and who will ap- 
point thee a throne near his own, to be forever thefpecta- 
tcr and partaker of his glory. Think of the rapture, with 
which thou malt attend his triumph in the refurreclion 
day, and receive this poor mouldering corruptible body 
transformed into his glorious image ; and then ' think, 

" thefe " 
• (h) Eph. v. 8. (i) Rom. v. 5. (k) Ads vfc*. 22. 
(1.) Gen. xii. 2. 



Ch. 27. and eonjider the joy that others pojfefs. 293 

" thefe hopes are not mine alone, but the hopes of thou- 
fands and millions. Multitudes, whom I number among 
the deareft of my friends upon earth, are rejoicing with 
me in thefe apprehenfions and views : And God gives me 
fometimes to fee the fmiles on their cheeks, the fweet 
humble hope that fparkles in their eyes, and lhines through 
the tears of tender gratitude ; and to hear that little of 
their inward complacency and joy, which language can 
exprefs. Yea, and multitudes more, who were once equal- 
ly dear to me with thefe, though I have laid them in the 
grave, and wept over their duft, are living to God, living 
in the poffeffioiv of inconceivable delights, and drinking 
large draughts of the water of life, which flows in perpe- 
tual ftreams at his right hand." 

§. 6. O Chriftian, thou art ftill intimately united and 
allied to them. Death cannot break a friendmip thus ce- 
mented, and it ought not to render thee infenfible of the 
happinefs of thofe friends, for whofe memory thou retain- 
ed fo juft an honor. They live to God, as his fervants : 
they ' ferve him, and fee his face;' (m) and they make 
but a fmall part of that glorious affembly. Millions, 
equally worthy of thine efteem and affection with them- 
felves, inhabit thofe blifsful regions : And wilt thou not 
rejoice in their joy ? and wilt thou not adore that ever- 
lafting fpring of holinefs and happinefs, from whence 
each of thefe ftreams is derived ? Yea, I will add, while 
the blefled angels are fo kindly regarding us, while they 
are mini ftring to thee, O Chriftian, and bearing thee on 
their arms, * as an heir of ialvation/ (nj wilt thou not 
rejoice in their felicity too ? and wilt thou not adore that 
God, who gives them all the fuperior glory of their molt 
exalted nature, and gives them a heaven, which fills them 
with bleflednefs, even while they feem to withdraw from 
it, that they may attend on thee ? 

$. 7. This, and infinitely more than this, the bjefTed 
God is, and was, and mall ever be. The felicities of the 
bleffed fpirits that furround his throne, and thy felicities, 
O Chriftian, are immortal. Thefe heavenly luminaries 
fhall glow with an undecaying flame ; and thou fliait 
ihine and burn among them, when the fun and the liars 

are 

(m) Rev. xxii. 3, 4. (n) Heb. i. 14. 



294 ^ n example of the genuine workings Ch. 27*. 

are gone out. Still fhall the unchanging father of lights 
pour forth his beams upon them ; and the luftre they re- 
flect from him, and their happinefs in him, fhall be ever- 
lafting, ihall be ever growing. Bow down, O thou child, 
of God, thou heii of glory, bow down, and let all that is 
within thee unite in one act. of grateful love ; and let 
all that is around thee, t all that is before thee in the 
profpecls of an unbounded eternity, concur to elevate and 
transport thy foul ; that thou raayeft, as far as poiTible, 
begin the work and bleffednefs of heaven, in falling down 
before the God of it, in opening thine heart to his gracious 
influences, and in breathing out before him that incenfe 
of praife, which thefe warm beams of his prefence and 
love have fo great a tendency to produce,- and to ennoble - 
iylth a fragrancy refembling that of his paradife above. 

The grateful foul rejoicing in the llefjings- cf providence and' 
grace > and pouring out iff elf before God in vigorous and affec^. 
tionate exercifes of love and praife. 

** O my God, it is enough ! I have mufed, and ' the 
lire burneth !' (o) But O, in what language lhall the flame 
break forth! What can I fay but this, that my heart ad-. 
mires thee, and adores thee, and loves thee ! My little vef- 
fel is as full as it can hold ; and I would pour out all that 
fulnefs before thee, that it may grow capable of receiving 
more and more. Thou art, ' my hope, and my help ; 
my glory, and the lifter up of my head. 1 (p) « My heart 
rejoices in thy falvation ;' (q) and when I fet myfelf, un--. 
der the influences of thy good fpirit, to converfe with thee, 
a thoufand. delightful thoughts fpring up at once ; a 
thoufand fources of pleafure are unfealed, and flow in up- 
on my foul with fuch refrefhment and joy, that they feem 
to croud into every moment the happinefs of days, and 
weeks, and months. 

" I blefs thee, O God, for this foul of mine, which 
thou haft created ; which thou haft taught to fay, and I 
hope to the happieft purpofe, where is God my maker ? (r) 

(o] Pfal. xxxix. 3. (p) Pfal. iu\ 3. (q) Pfal. xiii. 5... 
[r) Job. xxxv. 10.. 



Ch. 27. of a grateful joy in God. 297 

gination can conceive. But O I adore and love thee, yet 
far more, for what thou art in thyfelf, for thofe ftores of 
perfection which creation has not diminifhed, and which 
can never be exhausted by all the effects of it which thou 
imparted to thy creatures; that infinite perfeft ion, which 
makes thee thine own happinefs,thine own end ; amiable, 
infinitely amiable and venerable, were all derived excel- 
lence and happinefs forgot. 

" O thou rlrft, thou greateft, thou faireft of all objects ! 
Thou only great, thou only fair, poffefs all my foul ! And 
furely thou doft pofTefs it. While I thus feel thy facred 
fpirit breathing on my hearty and exciting thefe fervours 
of love to thee, I cannot doubt it anymore, than I can 
doubt the reality of this animal life, while I exert the act- 
ings of it, and feel its fenfations* Surely, if ever I knew 
the appetite of hunger, my foul i hungers after righteouf- 
nefs,' (a) and longs for a greater conformity to thy blefTed. 
nature and holy will. If ever my palate felt thirft, * my 
foul thirfteth for Godj even for the living God,' (b) and 1 
panteth-for the more abundant communication of his fa- 
vour. If ever, this body, when wearied with labours or 
journies, knew what it was to wifh for the refreihment o£ 
my bed and rejoiced to reft- there, my foul with fweet ac- 
quiefcence re.fts upon thy gracious bofom, O my heavenly 
father, and returns to its repofe.in the embraces of its God, 
who 'hath, dealt fo bountifully with it.' (c) And if ever 
I, faw the face of a beloved friend with complacency and 
joy, I rejoice in the beholding thy face, O Lord, and in. 
calling thee my father in Chrifb Such thou art, and fuch; 
thou wilt be, for time, and for eternity. What have I 
more to do, but to commit myfelf to thee for both ? leav- 
ing it to thee to * chufe mine inheritance,and to order my. 
affairs for me,' (d) while all my bufmefs is to ferve thee, 
and all my delight to praife thee. ' My foul follows hard, 
after God, becaufe his right hand upholds me.' (e) Let 
it ftill bear me up, and I fhall prefs on towards thee, till alV 
my deiires be accomplished in the eternal enjoyment of 
thee ! Amen" 

(a) Mat. v. 6, (b) Pfal. xlii. 2. (c) Pfal. cxvi. 7..' 
(d) Pfal. xlvii. 4, (ei Pfal. lxiii. 8. 

CHA.E. 



298 The ejlablifhed -Christian urged 

CHAP. XXVIII. 



THE ESTABLISHED CHRISTIAN URGED TO EXERT HIM- 
SELF FOR PURPOSES OF USEFULNESS. 

Afincere love to God will exprefs it/elf, not only in devotion, but 
in benevolence to men. §. 1. 2. This is the command of God. 
$.3. The true Chrijlian feels his foul wrought to a holy confor- 
mity to k; §. 4. and therefore will defire injlruclion on this 
head. §. 5. Accordingly directions are given for the improve- 
ment ef various talents : Particularly. ( 1 . ) Genius and 
learning. §. 6. (2.) Power. §. 7. (3.) Domejlic autho- 
rity. §. 8. (4.) EJleem. §. 9. (5.) Riches. §. 10. Sever- 
al good ways of employing them hinted at. §. II. Prudence 
in expence urged, for thefupport of charity. §. 12, 13. Di- 
vine directions in this refpetl to be fought. §. 14. The Chrif- 
tian breathing after more extenfive ufefulnefs. 

§. 1. CUCH as I have defcribed in the former chapter, 
^ I trait, are, and will be the frequent exercifes of 
your foul before God. Thus will your love and gratitude 
breath itfelf forth in the divine prefence, and will, through 
Jefus the great mediator, come up before it as incenfe, and 
yield an acceptable favour. But then you mud remem- 
ber, this will not be the only effect of that love to God, 
which I have fuppofed fo warm in your heart. If it be fi- 
cere, it will not fp end itfelf in words alone ; but will dif- 
cover itfelf in actions, and will produce, as its genuine 
fruit, an unfeigned love to. your fellow-creatures, an 
unwearied defire and labour to do them good continually. 
§. 2. " Has the great father of mercies," will you fay, 
looked upon me with fo gracious an eye ; has he not only 
forgiven me ten thoufand offences, but inriched me with 
fuch a variety of benefits ; O whatfhall I render to him 
for them all ! Inflruct me, O ye oracles of eternal truth ! 
inftruct me, ye elder brethren in the family of my hea- 
venly father ! InftrucT: me above all, O thou fpirit of wif- 
dom and of love, what I may be able to do, to exprefs 
my love to the great eternal fountain of love, and to ap- 
prove my fidelity to him, who has already done fo much 
to engage it, and who will take fo much pleafure in owning 
and rewarding it i"_ §. 3. This, 



Gh. -27. of a grateful joy to God* 295 

I blefs thee for the knowledge, with which thou haft 
adorned it. I blefs thee for that grace, with which, I. 
trull I may (not without humble wonder) fay, thou haft 
fandified it ; though alas, the celeftial plant is fixed in 
too barren a foil, and does not flourilh to the degree I could 
wifh. 

" I blefs thee alfo for that body which thou haft given 
me, and which thou preferveft as- yet in its ftrength and 
vigour ; not only capable of reliihing the entertainments 
which thou provideft for its various fenfes, but (which I 
efteem far more valuable than any of them for its own 
fake) capable of acYmg with fome vivacity in thy fervice. 
I blefs thee for that eafe and freedom, with which thefe 
limbs of mine move themfelves, and obey the dictates of 
my fpirit, I hope as guided by thine. I blefs thee, that 4 the 
keepers of the houfe do not yet tremble, nor the ftrong 
men bow themfelves j that they that look out of the win- 
dows are not yet darkened, nor the daughters of mufick 
brought low : I blefs thee, O God of my life, that the ill- 
ver cords are not yet loofed, nor the golden bowl broken :* 
(s) For it is thine hand that braces all my nerves, and 
thine infinite fkill that prepares thofe fpirits, which flow in 
fo freely, and, when exhaufted, recruit fo foon and fo plen- 
tifully. 

" I praife thee for that royal bounty, with which thou 
provideft for the daily fupport of mankind in general, and 
for mine in particular ; for the various * table which thou 
fpreadeft before me, and for the overflowing cup which 
thou putteft into my hand/ (t) I blefs thee, that thefe 
bounties of thy providence do not Jerve, as it were, to 
upbraid difabled appetite, and are not like meffes of meat 
fet before the dead. I blefs thee too, that * I eat not my 
morfel alone,' [u) but fhare it with fo many agreeable 
friends, who add the relifh of a focial life to that of the 
animal at our feafons of common repaft. I thank thee 
for fo many dear relatives at home, for fo many kind 
friends abroad, who are capable of ferving me in various 
inftances; and difpofed to make an obliging ufe .of that 
capacity. 

" Nor would I forget to acknowledge thy favour, in 

a 2 rendering 

[s] Eccl. xii. 3, 4, 6. (t) Pfal, xxiii. 5. (u) Job xxxi. 17. 



296 An example of the genuine workings Ch. t*fa 

rendering me capable of ferving others, and giving me in 
anyinftances to know, how much ' more blefTed it is tc 
give than to receive/ (x) I thank thee for a heart which 
feels the forrows of the neceilitous, and a mind which can 
make it my early care and refrefhment to contrive, ac- 
cording to my little ability for their relief: for * this alfo 
cometh forth from thee, O Lord,' (y) the great author 
of every benevolent inclination, of every prudent fcheme s 
of every fuccefsful attempt to fpread happinefs around usj, 
or in any inftance to lefTen diftrefs. 

" And furely, O Lord, if I thus acknowledge the plea- 
fures of fympathy with the afflicted, much more muft I 
blefs thee for thofe of fympathy with the happy, with thofe 
that are compleatly blefted. I adore thee for the ftreams 
that water paradife, and maintain it in ever-flourifhing, 
ever-growing delight. I praife thee for the reft, the joy, 
the tranfport, thou art giving to many that were once 
dear to me on earth .y whofe forrows it was my labour to 
footh, and whofe joys, efpecially in thee, it was the delight 
of my heart to promote. I praife thee for the blefTedriefs 
of every faint, and of every angel, that furrcunds thy 
throne above ; and I praife thee with accents of diftin- 
guifhed pleafure, for that reviving hope which thou haft 
implanted in my bofom, that I Inall ere long know by 
clear fight, and by everlaftirfg experience, what that felici- 
ty of theirs is, which I now only difcover at a diftance, 
through the comparatively obfcure glafs of faith. Even 
now through thy grace, do I feel myfelf borne forward 
by thy fupporting arm to thofe regions of blefTednefs. 
Even new am I * waiting for thy falvation,' (z) with that 
ardent defire on the one hand, which its fublime greatnefs 
cannot but infpife into the believing foul, and that calm 
reiignation on the other which the immutability cf thy 
promife eftabliihes. 

" And now, O my God, what fhall I fay unto thee ! 
What, but that I love thee above all the powers of lan- 
guage to exprefs !. That I love thee for what thou art to 
thy creatures, who are in their various forms every mo- 
ment deriving being, knowledge and happinefs, from thee 5 
.11 numbers and degrees, far beyond what my narrow ima- 
gination. 
(>:) Acts xx. 35, (y) Ifai. xxviii. 29. (z) Gen. xlix, J&,. 



I 
l|'Ch. 28. /a aim at more > cxten/ive ufefulhefc. 2Q§>. 

§. 3. This, O Chriftian, " is the command which we 
have heard from the beginning," and it will ever contin- 
ue in unimpaired force, * that he, who loveth God, 
fhould love his brother alfo ;' (a) and fhould exprefsthafc 
love, ' not in word and in profeffion alone, but indeed and 
in truth/ (b) You are to " love your neighbour as your- 
felf ;" to love "the whole creation of God ;" and, fo far 
as your influence can extend, rmift endeavour to make it 
happy. 

<•*. 4. " Yes," will you fay, " and I do love iu I feel 
.the golden chain of the divine love incircling us all, and 
(binding us clofe to each other, joining us in one body, and 
diffufmg (as it were) one foul through all. May happi- 
nefs, true and fublime, perpetual and, overgrowing happi- 
nefs, reign through the whole world of God's rational and 
obedient creatures in heaven and on earth ! And may e- 
very revolted creature, that is capable of being recovered 
and reftored, be made obedient ! Yea, may the necefTary 
; punifliment of thofe, who are irrecoverable, be over-ruled 
by infinite wifdom and love to the good of the whole i' 

§. 5. Thefeare right fentiments ; and if they are in- 
deed the fentiments of your heart, O reader, and not an 
empty form of vain words, they will be attended with a 
ferious concern to act in fubordination.to this great fcheme 
of divine providence, according to your abilities in their 
utmoft extent. And to this purpofe, they will put you on 
furveying the peculiar circumflances of your life and be- 
jing ; that you may difcover what opportunities of ufeful- 
nefs they now afford, and how thofe opportunities and ca- 
pacities may be improved Enter therefore into fuch a 
furvey ; not that you may pride yourfelves in the dif» 
tinclions of divine providence or grace towards you, or 
* having received, may glory as if you had not receiv- 
ed ;' (c) but that you may deal faithfully with the great 
proprietor, whofe iteward you^are, and by whom you 
are intruded with every talent, which, with refpeft to any 
claim from your fellow-creatures, you may call your 
own. And here, * having gifts differing according to 
the grace which is given unto us,' (d) let us hold the 

balance 

(a) 1 John iv. 21. (b) 1 John iii, i§. (c) l C° r * *?• 7 1 
(d) Rom. xii, 6V 



300 He Jhould improve his capacity, Ch. 28. 

balance with an impartial hand, that fo we may deter- 
mine what it is that God requires of us ; which is nothing 
leis, than doing the mod we can invent, contrive, and ef- 
fect, for the general good. But O, how feldom is this 
eftimate faithfully made ! And how much does the 
world around us, and how much do our own fouls fuffer, 
for want of that fidelity ! 

§.6. Hath God given you genius and learning? It 
was not, that you might amufe or deck yourfelf with it, 
and kindle a blaze which lhould only ferve to attract and 
dazzle the eyes of men. It was intended, to be the 
means of leading both yourfelf and them to the Father 
of lights. And it will be your duty, according to the 
peculiar turn of that genius and capacity, either to en- 
deavour to improve and adorn human life, or, by a more 
direct application of it to divine fubjects, to plead the 
caufe of religion, to defend its truths, to enforce and re- 
commend its practice, to deter men from courfes which 
would be difhonorable to God and fatal to themfelves, 
and to try the utmoft efforts of all the folemnity and ten- 
dernefs with which you can clothe your addreifes, to lead 
them into the paths of virtue and happinefs. 

§. 7. Has God inveiled you with power, whether it 
be in a larger or fmaller fociety ? Remember, that this 
power was given you, that God might be honored, and 
thofe placed under your government, whether domeftic 
or public, might be made happy. Be concerned, there- 
fore, that whether you be intrufted with the rod 01 the 
fword, it may l not be borne in vain.' (e) Are you a 
magistrate ? Have you any fhare in the great and tre- 
mendous charge of enacting laws ? Reverence the au- 
thority of the fupreme legislator, the great guardian of 
fociety: Promote none, confent to none, which you do 
not in your own confcience efteem, inprefentcircumftanc- 
es, an imitation of his will ; and in the eitablifhment of 
which you do not firmly believe you fhall be ' his minifter 
for good.' (f) Have you the charge of executing laws ? 
Put life into them by a vigorous and ftrenuous execu- 
tion, according to the nature of the particular office you 
bear. Retain not an empty name of authority. Permit 

not 

(e) Rom. xiii. 4. (f) Ibid. 



Ch. 2%, and all the power he has, to this end. 30 1 

not yourfelf, as it were, to fall afleep on the tribunal. Be ac- 
tive, be wakeful, be obfervant of what pafTeth around 
you. Protect the upright, and the innocent. Break in 
pieces the power of the oppreffor. Unveil every difhon- 
eft art. Difgrace as well' as defeat the wretch, that makes 
his diftijnguifhed abilities the difguife or protection of the 
wickednefs, which he ought rather to endeavour to expofe, 
and to drive out of the world with abhorrence. 

§. 8. Are you placed only at the head of a private 
family ? Rule it for God. Adminifter the concerns of 
that little kingdom with the fame views, and on the fame 
principles, which I have been inculcating on the power- 
ful and the great ; if by an unexpected accident any of 
them fhould fuffer their eye to glance upon the paflage 
above. Children and fervants are your natural Subjects* 
Let good order be eftablifhed among them, and keep 
them under a regular discipline. Let them be inftructed 
in the principles of religion, that they may know how 
reafonable fuch a discipline is ; and let them be accuftom- 
ed to act accordingly. You cannot indeed change their 
hearts, but you may very much influence their conduct ; 
and by that means may preferve them from many fnares, 
may do a great deal to make them good members of foci- 
ety, and may * fet them, as it were, in the way of God's 
fteps,' (g) if, peradventure, pafling by he may blefs 
them with the riches of his grace. And fail not to do 
your utmoft to convince them of their need of thofe bleff- 
ings ; labour to engage them to an high efteem of them, 
and to an earneft defire after them, as incomparably more 
valuable than any thing elfe. 

$. 9. Again. Has God been pleafed to raife you to 
efteem among your fellow-creatures, which is not always 
in proportion to a man's rank or porTeftions in human 
life ? Are your counfels heard with attention ? Is your 
company fought ? Does God give you good acceptance 
in the eyes of men, fo that they do not only put the fair- 
eft conftruction on your words, but overlook faults of 
which you are ccnfcious to yourfelf, and confider your 
actions and performances in the moft indulgent and fa- 
vorable light ? Ycu ought to regard this, not only as a 

favour 

(g) Pfal. lxxxv. 13. 



: 



^e 2 The Reputation he has tn the ii)otla\ Ch. 2$ 

favour of providence, and as arf encouragement to you 
cheerfully to purfue your duty, in the feveral branches of 
it, for the. time to come ; but alfo, as giving you much 
greater opportunities of ufefulnefs, than in your ■preferit 
ftation you could otherwife have had. If your character 
has any weight in the world, throw it into the right 
fcale. Endeavor to keep virtue and goodnefs in counte 
nance. Affectionately give your hand to modeft worth, 
where it feems to be depreffed or oveTlooked ; though 
fhining, when viewed in its proper light, with a luftre 
which you may think much fuperior to your own. Be an 
advocate for truth ; be a counfellor of peace $ be an ex- 
ample of candor ; and do all you can to reconcile the 
hearts of men, and efpecially of good men, to each other, 
however they may differ in their opinion about matters 
which, it is poffible, for good men to difpute. And let the 
caution and humility of your behaviour, in circumftanc- 
es of fuch fuperior eminence, and amidft fo many tokens 
of general efteem, filently reprove the raihnefs and 
haughtinefs of thofe, who, perhaps, are remarkable for lit- 
tle elfe ; or, who if their abilities were indeed confidera* 
ble, muft be defpifed, and whofe talents muft be in a 
great meafure loft to the public, till that ramnefs and 
haughtinefs of fpirit be fubdued- Nor fuffer yourfelf to 
be interrupted in this generous and worthy courfe, by the 
little attacks of envy and calumny, which you may meet 
with in it. Be ftill attentive to the general good, and 
ireadiiy refclute in your efforts to promote it ; and leave 
it to providence, to guard or to reicUe your character from 
the bafe aifaults of malice and falfhood ; which will oft* 
en, without your labour, 'confute themfelves, and heap 
upon the authors greater {hame, or I if they are inaccefli- 
ble to that) greater infamy, than your humanity will al* 
Idw you to wiih them. 

§ io. Once more, Has God ble/Ted you with riches ? 
Has he placed you in fuch circumftances, that you have 
more than you abfolutely need for the fubfiftence of 
yourfelf and your family ? Remember your approaching 
account. Remember what an incumbrance theie things 
often prove to men in the way of their falvation, and how 
often according to our Lord's exprefs declaration, they 

reader 



Ch. 28. and his riches ftall be thus improved. 303 

render it * as difficult to enter into the kingdom of Godj 
as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.' (h) 
Let it, therefore, be your immediate, your earned:, and 
your daily prayer, that riches may not be a fnare and a. 
fhame to you, as they are to, by far, the greater part of 
their pcffeiTors. Appropriate, I befeech you, feme cer- 
tain part and proportion of your eftate and revenues, to 
charitable ufes : with a provilional incieafe, as God 
fiiall profper you, in any extraordinary in fiance. By 
this means you will always have a fund of charity at 
hand : and you will probably be more ready to commu- 
nicate, when you look upon what is fo depofited, as not 
in any fenfe your own ; but as already actually given a- 
way to thofe ufes, though not yet afhxed to particular ob- 
jects. It is net for me to fay, what that proportion 
ought to be. To thofe, who have large revenues, and no 
children, perhaps, a third or one half may be too little i 
To thofe, whole incomes are frnall, and their charge co'ii- 
fiderable, though they have fomething more than is ab- 
folntely necefTary, it is poffible a tenth may be too much. 
But pray, that God would guide your mind ; make a 
trial for one year, on fuch terms, as, in yonr conference, 
■you think will be.moft pleafmg to him ; and let your 
! ©bfervations on that, teach you to fix your proportion for 
the next ; always remembering, that he requires jultice 
in the firft place, and alms deeds only fo far as may con- 
fi ft with that. Yet, at the fame time, take heed of that 
1 treacherous, delufive, and, in many inftances, deftructive 
i imagination, that juftice to your own family requires that 
you mould leave your children very rich ; which has, 
perhaps, coft fome parfimonious parents the lives of thofe 
darlings, for whom they laid up the portion of the poor ; 
and what fatal confequences of divine difpleafure may at- 
tend it to thofe that yet furvive, God only knows, and I 
heartily pray that you of yours may never learn by expe- 
rience. 

§. 1 1. And that your heart may be yet more opened, 
and that your charity may be directed to the befl pur- 
Jpofes, let me briefly mention a variety of good ufes, which 

may 
Bb 
(h) Mat. xix- 24. 



3&4 d variety of cafes, in tvhicb &c. Ch. 1 8* 

may call for the consideration of thpfe, whom God has, in 
this refpect, diftinguifhed by an ability to do good. To 
affift the hints I am to offer, look round on the neighbor* 
hood in which you live. Think how many honeft and 
induftrious, perhaps too, I might add religious people, are 
making veiy hard fhifts to druggie through life. Think 
what a comfort that would be to them, which you might, 
without aily inconvenience, fpare from that abundance 
which God hath given you.- — Hearken alio to any extra- 
ordinary calls of charity which may happen, especially, 
thofe of a public nature ; and help them forward with 
your example, and your mtereft, which, perhaps* may be 
of much greater importance than the fum which you 
contribute, considered in itfelf. Have a tongue to plead 
for the neceffitous, as well as a hand to relieve them , 
endeavour to difcountenance thofe poor, mam eful excufes, 
which covetoufnefs often dictates tothefe, whofe art may 
indeed fet fome variiifh on what they fnggeft, but, fo 
flight a one, that the coarfe ground will appear through 
it.— See how many poor children are wandering naked 
and ignorant about the (beets, and in the way to all kinds 
of vise and mifery ; and conficfcr what can be done to- 
wards clothing fome of them at leaft, ZM inftiucling them 
in the principles of religion. Would every thriving fam* 
ily in a town, which is able to afford help on fuch occa- 
fions, caft a pitying eye on one poor family in its neig*h« 
borkood, and take it under their patronage, to affift in 
feeding, and clothing, and teaching children, in fupport- 
ing it in affliction, in defending it from wrongs, and in ad- 
vifmg thofe that have the management of it, as circum- 
ftances might require, how great a difference would foon 
be produced in the appearance of things amongft us ? Ob- 
serve who are nek, that if there be no public infirmary at 
hand to which you can introduce them, (where your con* 
tribution will yield the larger! increafe,) you may do 
fome thing towards relieving them at home, and fupply- 
ing them with advice and medicines, as well as with prop- 
er diet and attendance. Confider alfo the fpiritual ne- 
ceflities of men ; in providing for which, I Would partic- 
ularly recommend to you the very important and noble 
charity, aflifting of young perfoas of genius and piety, 

with 



' 



Ch. 28. Expences Jbould be prudently managed^ $<y| 

with what is necefTary to fupport the expence of their edu- 
cation for the miniftry, in a proper courfe of grammatic- 
al or academical ftudies. And grudge not fome propor- 
tion of what God hath given you, to thofe, who, refign- 
ing all temporal views to mmifter to you the gofpel of 
Cltrift, have furely an equitable claim to b.e fupported by 
you, in a capacity of rendering you thofe fer vices, how- 
.ever laborious, to which, for your fakes, and that of our 
.common Lord, they have devoted their lives. And while 
you are fo abundantly * fatisfied with the goodnefs of 
God's houfe, even of his holy temple,' (i) have com- 
panion on thofe who dwell in a defart land ; and rejoice 
to do fomething towards fending among the diitant na- 
tions of the heathen world, that glorious gofpel which hath 
fo long continued unknown to multitudes, tho' the knowl- 
edge of it, with becoming regard, be life everlafting. — 
Thefe are a few important charities, which I would point 
-.out to thofe, whom providence has enriched with its pe- 
culiar bounties : And it renders gold more precious, than 
it could appear in any other light, that it is capable of be- 
ing employed for fuch purpofes. But if you Ihould not 
have gold to fpare for them, contribute your iilver : Or 
as a farthing, or a mite, is not overlooked by God, when 
it is given ' from a truly generous and charitable heart,' 
(k) let that be cheerfully dropped into the treafury, where 
richer offerings cannot be afforded, 

§. 12. And, that amidfl fo many prefiing demands for 
charity, you may be better furniiliea to ani-wer them, fe- 
rioufly reflecl: on your manner of living. I fay not, that 
God requires, you ihould become one of the many poor, 
relieved out of your income. The fupport offociety, as 
at prefent eitabiifhed, will not only permit, but require, 
that fome perfons fhould allow themf elves in the elegan- 
cies and delights of life ; by furniihing which, multitudes 
of poor families are much more creditably and comforta- 
hly fubfifted, with greater advantage to themfelves and 
fafety to the public, than they could be, if the price of 
their labours, or the commodities in which they deal, were 
to be given them as an alms : Nor can I imagine it grate- 
ful to God, that his gifts fhould be refufed, as if they we^e 

meant 
(I) Pfal. lxv. 4. (k) Mark xii. 42, 43 , 



$q6 with a concern to he more ufefuL Ch. 28, 

meant for fnares and curfes, rather than benefits. This 
were to fruftrate the benevolent purpofes of the gracious 
father of mankind, and if carried to its rigour would be 
a fort of confpiracy againft the whole fyftem of nature. — 
Let the bounties of providence be ufed ; but let us care- 
fully fee to it, that it be in a moderate and prudent man- 
ner, left, by our own folly, ' that which mould have been 
for our welfare become a trap. 5 (1) Let confcience fay, 
my deai reader, with regard to yourfelf, what proportion 
of the good things you poffefs your heavenly father in- 
tends for yourfelf, and what for your brethren ; and live 
not, as if you had no brethren ; as if pleafmg yourfelf, in 
all the magnificence and luxury you can devife, were the 
end for which you were fent into the world. I fear this 
is the excefs of the prefent age, and not an excefs of rig- 
our and mortification. Examine therefore your expen- 
ses, and compare them with your income. That may be 
fhamefully extravagant in you, which may not only be par- 
donable, but commendable in another of fuperior eftate. 
Nor can you be fure, that you do not exceed, merely be- 
caufe you do not plunge yourfelf in debt, nor render 
yourfelf incapable of laying up any thing for your family. 
If you be difabled from doing any thing for the, poor, or 
any thing proportionable to your rank in life, by that 
genteel and elegant way of living which you affect, God 
muft difapprove of fuch a conducT: ; and you ought, as 
you will anfwer it to him, to retrench it. And tho* the 
divine indulgence will undoubtedly be exercifed to thofe, 
in whom there is a fmcere principle of faith in Chrift, and 
undiiTembied love to God and man, though it acl not to 
that height of beneficence and ufefulnefs which might 
have been attained ; yet be allured of this, that he, who 
rendereth to everyone according to his work, will have a 
ftrict regard to the degrees of goodnefs in the diftribution 
of final rewards: So that every neglected opportunity 
draws after it an irreparable lofs, which will go into eter- 
nity along with you. And let me add to®, that every in- 
ftance of negligence indulged renders the mind ftill more 
and more indolent and weak, and confequently more in- 
difpofed to recover the ground which has been loft or e- 
ven to maintain that which has hitherto been kept. 

(1) Pfal.lxix. 32. §.~ 13* 






Ch. 2$, The Chrijltan breathing after 307 

$. 13. Complain not, that this is impofmg hard things 
upon you. I am only directing your pleafures into a no- 
bier channel ; and indeed that frugality, which is the 
foiirce of fuch a generofity, far from being at all injuri- 
ous to your reputation, will rather, amongft wife and good 
men, greatly promote it. But you have far more nobler 
motives before you, than thofe which arife from their re- 
gards. I fpeak to you, as to a child of God, and a mem- 
ber of Chrift ; as joined therefore by the moll intimate 
union to all the pooreft of thofe that believe in him. I 
fpeak to you, as an heir of eternal glory, who ought there- 
fore to have fentiments great and fublime, in fome propor- 
tion to that expected inheritance. 

§. 14. Caft about therefore in your thoughts, what good 
is to be done, and what you can do, either in your own perfon, 
or by your intereft with others ; and go about itwithrefolu- 
tion, as in the name and prefence of the Lord. And as 
' the Lord giveth wifdom, and out of his mouth cometh 
knowledge and underftanding,' (m) goto the foot-ftool 
of his throne, and there feek that guidance and that grace, 
which may fuit your preient circumftances, and may be 
effectual to produce the fruits of holinefs and ufefulnefs, 
to his abundant glory, and to the honour of your Chrif- 
tian profeffion. 

The eflablifhed Christian Ireathing after more extenfive ufe- 
fulnefs. 

" O BOUNTIFUL father, and fovereign author of all 
good, whether natural or fpiritual ! I blefs thee for the 
natural talents, with which thou haft enriched fo unde- 
ferving a creature, as I rauft acknowledge myfelf to be. 
My foul is in the deepeft confuf on before thee, when I 
confider to how little purpofe I have hitherto improved 
them. Alas ! what have I done, in proportion to what 
thou mighteft reafonably have expected, with the gifts of 
nature which thou haft bellowed upon me, with my ca- 
pacities of life, with my time, with my pofTeffions, with 
my influence over others ! Alas ! through my own neg- 
ligence and folly, I look back on a barren wildernefs, 
where I might have feen a fruitful field, and a fpringing 
b 2 harveft I 

(m) Pioy. ii. 6. 



$o% more exteir/ive ufefulne/s. Ch. zS> 

harveft ! Juftly do I indeed deferve to be Gripped of all, 
to be brought to an immediate account for all, to be con- 
demned as, in many refpefts, unfaithful to thee, and to the 
world, and to my own foul ; and, in confequence of that 
condemnation, to be caft into the prifon of eternal darkneis ! 
But thou, Lord, haft freely forgiven the dreadful debt of 
ten thoufand talents. Adored be thy name for it ! Ac- 
cept, O Lord, accept that renewed furrender, which I 
would now make of myfelf, and of all I have, unto thy 
fervice ! I acknowledge, that it is « of thine own that I 
give thee/ (n) Make me, I befeech thee, a faithful ftew- 
ard for my great Lord ; and may I think of no feparate 
intereft of my own, in oppoiition to thine ! 

" I adore thee, O thou God of all grace, if : while I am thus 
fpeakirrg to thee, I feel the love of thy creatures arifmg in 
my icul ; if I feel my heart opening to embrace my breth- 
ren of mankind ! O make me thy faithful almoner, in dif- 
tributing to them all that thou haft lodged in mine hand 
for their relief ! And in determining what is my own 
lhare, may I hold the balance with an equal hand, and 
judge impartially between myfelf and them ! The pro- 
portion thou alloweft, may I thankfully take to myfelf, 
and thofe who are immediately mine ! The reft, may I 
distribute with wifdom and fidelity, and cheerful aefs! 
Guide mine hand, O ever. merciful father, while thou deft 
me the honor to make me thine inftrument in dealing out 
a few of thy bounties ; that I may beftow them where 
they are moft needed, and where they will anfwerthebeft 
end ! And, if it be thy gracious will, do thou 'multiply 
the feed fown ;' (o) proiper me in my worldly affairs, 
that I may have more to impart to them that need it ; 
and thus lead me on to the region of everlalling plenty, 
and everlafting benevolence i There may I meet with 
,:nany, to whom I have been an affectionate 'benefactor 
on earth ; and, if it be thy blefTed will, with many, whom 
I have alfo been the means of conducting into the path to 
*hat blifsful abode ! There may they entertain me in their 
habitations of glory ! And in time and eternity, do thou, 
Lord, accept the praife of all, through Jems Chrift ; at 
whole feet I would bow ; and at whofe feet, after the moft 

ufefui 

(n) i Chron, xxix. 14. (o) 2 Cor. ix. io» 



Ch. 29. The Chriftlan has reafon to rejoice 309 

ufeful courfe, I would at laft die, with as much humility, 
as if I were then exerting the firft ad of faith upon him, 
and had never had any opportunity, by one tribute of o- 
bedience and gratitude in the fervices of life, to approve 
its fmcerity !" 



«S8wg^== ^SW 



CHAP. XXIX, 



THE CHRISTIAN HEJ01CING IN THE VIEWS OF DEATH AND 
JUDGMENT. 

Death and 1 judgment are near ; hut the Chriflian has reafon to 
welcome both : §. 1. Yet nature recoils from the fokmnity of 
them. §. 2. An attempt to reconcile the mind, [I.] To the 
profpetl of death, §. 3. from the confi deration, (1.) of the 
many evils that furround us in this mortal life, §. 4. (2.) 
Of the remainder oj fin which we feel within us. $. 5. And, 
(3.) Of the happinefi which is immediately to fucceed death. 
§. 6, 7. All which might make the Chr'tflian willing to die, 
in the mofl agreeable circumflances of human life. §. 8. CH-1 
The Chriflian has reafon to rejoice in the profpeB of judgment : 
§. 9. Since, however awful it be, Chrijl will then come, to 
vindicate his honor, to difplay his glory, and to triumph over 
his enemiets : §. 10. As alfo to complete tbe happinefs of eve- 
ry believer, <j, ri. and of the whole church. §. 12, 13. 
The meditation of a Chriflian, whofe heart is warmed with 
thefe profpetls. 

§. 1. W HEN the vifions of the Lord were clofing 
Upon John, the beloved difciple, in the ifland of Patmos, it 
is obfervable, that he, who gave him that revelation, even 
Jefus the faithful and true witnefs, concludes with thofe 
lively and important words: * He, who teftifieth thefe 
things faith, furely I come quickly ; And John anfwers 

with 

(a) Rev, xxii. 20, 



3 1 a in the views of death and judgment Ch. 29 

with the greateft readinefs and pleafure, amen, even f< 
come, Lord Jefus !' (a) Come, as thou haft faid, fureh 
and quickly ! — And remember, O Chriftian, whoever yoi 
are that are now reading thefe words, your divine Lore 
fpeaks in the fame language to you : Behold, I conn 
quickly. Yes, very quickly will he come by death, tc 
turn the key, to open the door of the grave for thine en- 
trance thither, "and to lead thee through it into the now 
unknown regions of the invifible world. Nor is it long 
before ' the judge who ftandeth at the door/ (b) will ap- 
pear alfo to.the univerfal judgment : And though per- 
haps, not only fcores, but hundreds of years may lie be- 
tween that period and the prefent moment, yet it is but 
a very fmall point of time to him, who views at once all 
the unmeafurable ages of a paft and future eternity. 'A 
thoufand years are with him but as one day, and one day as 
a thoufand years.' (c) In both thefe fenfes then does he 
come quickly : And I truft, you can anfwer with a glad 
amen, that the warning is not terrible or unpleafant to 
your ears ; but rather, that his coming, his certain, his 
fpeedy coming, is the object of your delightful hope, and 
of your longing expe&ation. 

§. 2. I am fure, it is reafonable it mould befo ; and 
yet, perhaps, nature, fond of life, and unwilling to part 
with along known abode, to enter on a ftate to which it 
is entirely a ftranger, may recoil from the thoughts of 
dying ; or, ftruck with the awful pomp of an expiring and 
dilfolving world, may look on the judgment day with 
fome mixture of terror. And therefore, my dear broth- 
er in the Lord, (for as fuch I can now efteem you,) I 
would reafon with you a little on this head, and would in- 
treat you to look more attentivel}' on this folemn object, 
which will, I truft, grow lefs difagreeable to you, as it is 
more familiarly viewed. Nay, I hope, that inftead of 
ftarting back from it, you will fpring forward towards it 
with joy and delight. 

§. 3. Think, O Chriftian, when Chrift comes to call 
you away by death, he comes — to fet you at liberty from 
your prefent forrows, — to deliver you frcm your ftruggles 
with remaining corruption, — and to receive you to dwell 

with 

(aj Rev. xxii. 20, (b) Jam. v. 9. (c) 2 Pet. Hi. 8, 



Ch. 29. The Ghriftian hath reafan to rejo'ice> &c. 311 

with himfelf in complete holinefs and joy. You {hall 'be 
abfent from the body, and be prefent with the Lord.' (d) 

§. 4. He will indeed call you away from this world. 
ButO, what is this world, that you fhould be fond of it, 
and cling to it with fo much eagernefs ? How low are all 
thofe enjoyments that are peculiar to it ; and how many 
its vexations, its fnares, and its forrows ? Review your 
pilgrimage thus far, and though you mull acknowledge, 
that ' goodnefs and mercy have followed you all the days 
of your life/ (e) yet has not that very mercy itfelf plant- 
ed fome thorns in your paths, and given you fome wife 
and neceflary, yet painful intimations, that * this is not 
your reft ?' {£) Review the monuments of your withered 
joys, of your blafted hopes; if there be yet any monu- 
ments of them remaining, more than a mournful remem- 
brance they have left behind in your afflicted heart. Look 
upon the graves, that have fwallowed up many of your 
deareft and moil amiable friends, perhaps, in the very 
bloom of life, and in the greateft intimacy of your con- 
verfe with them ; and reflect, that if you hold it out a few 
years more, death will renew its conquefts at your ex- 
pence, and devour the moft precious of thofe that yet fur- 
vive. View the living, as well as the dead : Behold the 
ftate of human nature, under the many grievous marks 
of its apoftacy from God ; and fay, whether a wife and 
i good man would wifh to continue always here. Methinks, 
were I myfelffecure from being reached by any of the 
i arrows that fly around me, I could not but mourn,, to fee 
-the wounds that are given by them, and to hear the 
groans of thofe that are continually falling under them. 
The difeafes and calamities of mankind are fo many, and 
(which is moft grievous of all,) the diftempers of their 
minds are fo various and fo threatening, that the world 
appears almoft like an hofpital : And a man, whofe heart 
is tender, is ready to feel his fpirits broken, as he walks 
through it, and furveys the fad fcene ; efpecially when he 
fees, how little he can do ior the recovery of thofe whom 
he pities. Are you a Chriftian, and does it not pierce 
your heart, to fee how human nature is funk in vice, and 
in fhame ? to fee with what amazing infolence fome are 

making 

(d) 2 Cor. v. 8. (e)Pfal. xxiii. 6, (f) Mic. ii. 10. 



312 Death null! end the forrows of 'fife, Ch. 2cj 

making themfelves openly vile, and how the name o 
Chrift is dishonored by many too who call themfelves hi 
people ? to fee the unlawful deeds and filthy practifes o 
them that live ungodly, and to behold, at the fame time 
the infirmities at lead, and irregularities of thole, concern 
ing whom we have better hopes ? And do you not wiih 
to efcape from lb en a world, where * a righteous and 
companionate foul muft be vexed from day to day, by fo 
many fpectacles of fin and mifery :' (g) 

§. 5. Yea, to come nearer home, do you not feel fome- 
thing within you, which you long to quit, and which 
would imbitter even Paradife itfelf ? Something, which 
were it to continue, would grieve and diftrefs you even in 
the fociety of the bleffed ? Do you not feel a remainder of 
indwelling fin, the fad confequence of the original revolt 
of our nature from God ? Are you not ftruggling every 
day with fome refidue of corruption, or atleaft, mourning 
on account of the weaknefs of your graces ? Do you not 
often find your fpirits dull and languid, when you would 
defire to raife them to the greateft fervour in the fervice 
of God ? Do you not find your hearts too often infenfible 
of the richeft instances of his love, and your hands feeble 
in his fervice, even when * to will is prefent with you ?' (h) 
Does not your life, in its bell days and hours, appear a 
low unprofitable thing, when compared with what you 
arefenfible it ought to be, and with what you wifh that 
it were ? Are you not frequently, as it were, ftretching 
the pinions of the mind, and faying, * O that I had wings 
like a dove, that I might fly away and be at red ?' (i) 

§. 6. Should you not then rejoice in the thought, tha* 
Jefus comes to deliver you from thefe complaints ? Th 
he comes to anfwer your wifhes, and to fulfil the large 
defires of your hearts, thofe defires that he himfelf has 
fpired ? That he comes to open upon you a world of pu 
rity and joy, of active, exalted, and unwearied fervices 

$".7. O Chriftian, how often have you cad a longin 
eye towards thofe happy mores, and wifhed to pais 
the fea, the boifterous, unpleafant, dangerous fea, that 
Separates you from them ? When your Lord has conde- 
feendied to make you a fhort vilit in his ordinances on 

earth, 

<g) 2 Pet. ii. 8. (» Rom. vii. 18, (i) Pfal. lv. 6 






dh .29. will free from Jtn and bring him to Chrift . 313 
» 

2arth, how have you bleft the time, and the place, and 
pronounced it, amidft many other difadvantages of fitu- 
ition, to be 6 the very gate of heaven ?' (k) And is it fo 
delightful to behold this gate, and will it not be much 
more fo to enter into it ? Is it fo delightful to receive the 
vifits of Jefus for an hour, and will it not be infinitely 
more to dwell with him forever ? " Lord" may you 
well fay, " when I dwell with thee, T ihall dwell in holi* 
aefs, for thou thyielf art holinefs 5 I ihall dwell in love, 
for thou thyfelf art love ; I ihall dwell in joy, for thou 
art the fountain of joy, as * thou art in the father, and the 
father in thee." 1) Bid welcome to his approach, there- 
fore, to take you at your word, and to fulfil to you that 
faying of his, on which your foul has fo often reftedwith 
heavenly peace and pleaiure ; * Father, I will that they 
whom thou haft given me, be with me where I am, that 
they may behold my glory, which thou haft given 
me ' (m) 

§, 8. Surely, you may fay in this view, " The fooner 
Chrift comes, the better." What though the refidue of 
your days be cut off in the midft ? What though you 
leave many expected pleafures in life unbailed, and many 
fchemes unaccomplifhed ? Is it not enough, that what is 
taken from a mcxr.taj life ihall be added to a glorious eter- 
nity ; and that you ihall fpend thofe days and years in 
the prefence and fervice of Chrift in heaven, which you 
might otherwise have fpent with him, and for him, in the 
imperfect enjoyments and labours of earth. 

§. 9. But your profpects reach, not only beyond death, 
but beyond the feparate ftate. For with regard to his fi- 
nal appearance to judgment our Lord fays, furely I come 
quickly, in the fenfe illuftrated before : and fo it will ap- 
pear to us, if we compare this interval of time with the 
blifsful eternity which is to fucceed it'; xmd probably, if 
we compare it with thofe ages which have already paifed, 
fmce the fun began to meaiure out to earth its days and 
its years. And will ycu not here alfo fmg your part in 
the joyful anthem, Amen ; even fo come, Lord Jefus ! 

§. 10. It is true, Chriftian, it is an awful day ; a day, 
in which nature ihall be thrown into a confufion as yet 

unknown,, 
(k) Gen. xxviii. 17. (1) Johnxvii, 21. (m)Johaxvii. 24, 



3*4 The day of judgment will be welcome. Ch. 29. 

unknown. No earthquake, no eruption of burning moun- 
tains, no defolation of cities by devouring flames, or of 
countries by overflowing rivers orfeas, can give any jufl 
emblem of that dreadful day ; when * the heavens being 
on fire fhall be dilfolved, as well as the earth, and all 
that is therein {hall be burnt up ;' (n) when all nature 
fli all flee away in amazement * before the face of the uni- 
verfal Judge,' o and there fhall be a great cry, far be- 
yond what was known in the land of Egypt, when * there 
was not a houfe in which there was not one dead.' (p) 
Your flefh may be ready to tremble at the view ; yet your 
fplrit muft furely c rejoice in God your faviour.' (q) You 
may juftly fay, " Let this illuftrious day come, even with 
all its horrors !" Yea, like the chriitiaus defcribed by the 
apoftle, i'r you may be looking for, and haftening to that 
day of terrible brightnefs and univerfal doom. For your 
Lord will then come, to vindicate the juftice of thofe pro- 
ceedings which have been, in many inft ances, fo much ob- 
fcured, and becaufe they have been cbfcured. have been 
alfo blafphemed. He will come, to difplay his magnifi- 
cence, defcending from heaven ' with a fhcut, with the 
voice of the archangel, and with the truxip of God ;' (s) 
taking his feat upon a throne infinitely exceeding that 
of earthly, or even of celeftial princes, clothed with * his 
father's, glory and his own ;' \i) furrounded with a num- 
berieis hoil of ' fhining attendants,' when * coming to be 
glorified in his faints, and admired in all them that be- 
lieve. 5 (u) His enemies fhall alfo be produced to grace 
his triumph : The ferpent fhall be feen there rolling in the 
duft,and trodden underfoot by him and by all his lervants : 
Thofe, who once condemned him, fhall tremble at his pref- 
ence ; and thofe, who once bowed the knee before him in 
profane mockery, fhall, in wild defpair, * call to the moun- 
tains to fall upon them, and to the rocks to hide them 
from the face of that lamb of God,' (x) whom they once 
led away to the molt inhuman flaughter. 

§. 1 1. O Chriilian, does not your loyal heart bound at 
the thought ? And are you not ready, even while you read 

thefe 
(n) 2 Pet. ii. ic, "12. (o) Rev. xx. 11. (p' Exod. xii. 30. 
(q) Lukei. 47. (r) 2 Pet. iii. . 12. (s) i Theff. iv. i& 
(t)Luke ix. 26. (u) 2 Theff. i. 10. (x) Rev. vi. 16. 



Ch. 29. as the day of the triumph of Chrifl* 31$ 

thefe lines, to begin the victorious fhout in which you are then 
to join ? He juftly expects, that your thoughts fhould be 
greatly elevated and imprefled with the views of his tri* 
umph ; but, at the fame time, he permits you to remem- 
ber your own perfonal fhare in the joy and glory of that 
bleffed day : And even now he has the view before him, 
of what his power and love fhall then accomplifh for your 
falvation. And what mall it not accomplifh r He mail 
come, to break the bars of the grave, and to re-animate 
your ileeping clay. Your bodies mull, indeed, be laid in 
the dull, and be lodged there as a teftimony of God's 
difpleafure againft fin ; againft the firft fin that was ever 
committed, from the fad confequences of which the dear- 
eft of his children cannot be exempted. But you fhall 
then have an ear to hear the voice of the fon of God, and 
an eye to behold the luftre of his appearance ; and fhall 
'mine forth like the fun' (y) arifmg in the clear heaven, 
' which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. 5 
(z) Your foul fhall be new drelfed to grace this high fo- 
lemnity ; and be clothed not with the rags of mortality, 
but with the robes of glory ; for he ' fhall change this vile 
body, to famion it like his own glorious body/ (a) And' 
when you are thus royally arrayed, he fhalLconfer public 
honors on you, and on all his people before the afiembled 
world. You may now, perhaps, be loaded with infamy, 
called by reproachful names, and charged with crimes, 
or with views which your very foul abhors : But he will 
then ' bring forth your righteoufnefs as the light,' (b) 
' and your falvation as a lamp that burnetii.' (c) Tho' 
you have been dilhonored by men, you fhall be acknowl- 
edged by God ; and though treated ' as the filth of the 
world, and the off-fcouring of all things,' (d) he will mew- 
that he regards you, * as his treafure, in the day that 
he makes up his jewels.' (e) When he fhall* ' put away 
all the wicked of the earth like drofs,' (f) you fhall be 
pronounced righteous in that fullaffembly ; and though, 
indeed, you have broken the divine law, and might in ftricl: 
juftice have been condemned, yet, being clothed with the 
C c righteoufnefs 

(y) Mat. xiii. 43. (z) Pfal. xix. 5. (a) Phil. iii. 21. 
(b) Pfal. xxxvii. 6. (c) Ifai. lxii. 1. (d) 1 Cor. iv. 13. 
(e) Mai. iii. 17. (f) Pfal. cxi& 119, 



£i6 The happinefs of every believer, &e. Ch. 2g t y 

tighteoufhefs of the great redeemer, even * thatrighteouf- 
nefs which is of God by faith,* [g] juftice itfelf fhall ac* 
quit you, and join with mercy in ' beftowing upon you a 
crown of life.' (h) Chrift * will confefs you before men 
and angels,' (i) will pronounce you * good and faithful 
fervants, and call you to enter into the joy of your Lord :' 
(k) He will fpeak of you with endearment, as his bre- 
thren, and will acknowledge * the kindnenes which have 
been fhewn to you, as if he had received them in his own 
perfon.' (1) Yea, then ftall you, O Ch'riftian, who may, 
perhaps, have fat in fome of the loweft places in our af- 
femblies, though ( ; t may be) none of the rich and great 
of the earth would condefcend to look upon or fpeak to 
you, be called to be an aifefTor with Chrift on hisjudgment 
feat, and to join with him in the fentence he fhall pafs en 
wicked men and rebellious angels. 

§» 12. Nor is it merely one day of glory and of tri- 
umph. But, when the judge arifes and afcends to his fa- 
ther's court, all the bleiTed fhall afcend with him, and you 
among the reft : You {hall afcend together with your fa- 
viour, * to his father and your father, to his God and 
your God/ (n) You fhall go, to make your appearance 
in the New Jerufalem, in thofe new fhining forms that 
you have received, which will, no doubt, be attended with 
a correfpondent improvement of mind ; and take up your 
perpetual abode in that fulnefs of joy, with which you 
ihall be filled and fatisfied ' in the prefence of God/ (o) 
upon the consummation of that happinefs- which the faints 
in the intermediate ftate have been wifhing and waiting 
for. You fhall go, from the ruins of a diifolving world, 
to * the new heavens and new earth wherein righteoufnefs 
forever dwells.' (p) There all the number of God's elect 
fhall be accompliihed, and the happinefs of each fhall be 
compleated. The whole fociety fhall be ' prefented before 
God, as the bride, the lamb's wife,' (q) whom the eye of 
its celeftial bridegroom fhall furvey with unutterable de- 
light, and confefs to be * without fpot or wrinkle, or any 

fuch 

(g) Phil. iii. 9. (h) 2 Tim. iv. 8. (i). Luke xii. 8. 
(k) Matt. xxv. 21. (1) Matt, xxv, 40. (n) John xx. '17 
(o) Pfal. xvi. 11. (p) a Pet. iii. 13. (q) Rev. xxi. 9 






Ch. 29. The meditation of a Chriftian, &c. 317 

fuch thing :' (r) its character and ftate being juft what he 
originally defigned it to be, when he firft engaged to \ give 
himfelf for it, to redeem it to Goi by his blood.' (s) \ So 
ihall you ever be with each othei . and with the Lord ;' 
(t) and immortal ages mail roll away.- and find you ftill 
unchanged : your happinefs always the fame, and your 
relifh for it the fame ; or rather ever growing, as your 
fouls are approaching nearer and nearer to him, who is the 
fource of happinefs, and the centre of infinite perfection. 
V 13. And now, look round about upon earth, and fin- 
gle out, if you can, the enjoyments or the hopes, for the 
fake of which you would fay, Lord, delay thy coming ; 
or for the fake of which you any more ihould hefitate to 
exprefs your longing for it, and to cry, * even fo, come, 
Lord Jefus, come quickly ! 

The Meditation and Prayer of a Christian, whofe. 
heart is warmed with thefe profpeSs. 

« O BLESSED Lord! My foul is enkindled in thefe 
views, and rifes to thee in the f!ame. , (u) Thou haft tefti 
fled, thou corned quickly : And I repeat my joyful aflent, 
' Amen. Even fo, come, Lord Jefus !' (x ) Come, for Hong 
to have done with this low life; to have done with its 
burthens, its forrows, and its fnares ! Come, for I long to 
afcend into thy prefence, and to fee the court thou art 
holding above ! 

" Ble/Ted Jefus, death is transformed, when I view it in 
this light. The king of tenors is feen no more as fuch, fo 
near the king of glory and of grace. I hear with pleafure 
the found of thy feet, approaching ftill nearer and near- 
er : Draw afide the veil, when ever thou pleafeft ! Open 
the bars of my prifon, that my eager foul may fpring 
forth to thee, and * caft itfelf at thy feet ; at the feet of that 
Jefus, whom, having not feen, I love : and in whom, tho* 
now I fee thee not, yet believing, I rejoice with joy un- 
fpeakable and full of glory !' (y) Thou, Lord, (halt fhew 
me the path of life : Thine hand ihall guide me to thy 
blifsful abode, where * there is fulnefs of joy, and rivers of 

everlafting 

(r) Eph. v. 27. (s) Rev. v. 9. (t) 1 ThefT. iv. 17, 
(uj Judg. xiii, 20. (x) Rev. xxii. 20. (y) 1 Pet' i. 8* 



3i§ The meditation of a Christian, &c. Ch. 2^ 

everlafting pleafure/ (z) Thou malt aflign me an habi- 
tation with thy faithful fervants, whofe feparate fpirits are 
now living with thee ; while their bodies fleep in the duft. 
Many of them have been my companions in thy laborious, 
work, and * in the patience and tribulation of thy king- 
dom ;' (a) my dear companions, and my brethren. O 
fhew me, bleifed faviour, how glorious and how happy 
thou haft made them ! Shew me, to what new forms of 
better life thou haft conducted them, whom we call the 
dead ! In what nobler and more extenfive fervices thou- 
haft employed them ! That I may praife.thee better thaa 
I now can, for thy goodnefs to them ! And O give me to 
ihare with them in their bleffingsand their fervices, and 
to raife a fong of grateful love, like that which they are 
is^eathing forth before thee ! 

" Yet, O my blefled redeemer, even there will my foul 
be afpiring to a yet nobler and more glorious hope ; and 
from this as yet unknown fplendor and felicity, ihall I be 
drawing new arguments to look and long for the day of 
thy final appearance. There mall I long more ardently 
than I now do, to fee thy conduit vindicated, and thy tri- 
umph difplayed ; to fee the duft of thy fervants reanima- 
ted, and < death, the laft of their enemies and of thine, 
fwaliowed up in victory. ' (b) I mall long for that fuperU 
or honor that thou intendeft me, and that compleat blifs 
to which the whole body of thy people fhall be conducted. 
Come, Lord Jefus, come quickly, will mingle itfelf with 
the longs of paradife, and found from the tongues of all 
the millions of thy faints, whom thy grace has tranfplanted 
thither. 

" In the mean time, O my divine mafter, accept the ho- 
mage which a grateful heart now pays thee, in a fenfe of 
the glorious hopes with which thou haft infpired. it ! It is, 
thou, that haft put this joy into it, and haft raifed my foul 
to this glorious ambition ; whereas I might otherwife 
have now been groveling in the loweft trifles of time and 
fenfe, and been looking with horror on that hour, which 
is now the object of my ardent wifhes. 

" O be with me always even to the end of this mortal 
life ! and give me, while waiting for thy falvation, to be 

doing 
(z) Pfal. xvi. ii. (a) ^tev. i. 9. (b) 1 Cor. xv. 26.34* 



Ch. 30. The dying Chriftian called to honor God. 319 

doings thy commandments ! May my loins be girded about 
and my lamp burning ;' (c) and mine ears be ftill watch- 
ful for the bleffed iignal of thine arrival : That my glow- 
ing foul may with pleafure fpring to meet thee, and be 
ftrengthened by death to bear thofevifions of glory un- 
der the extafies of which feeble mortality would now ex-' 
pire ! 



*$&*. 



CHAP. XXX. 

THE CHRISTIAN HONORING GOD BY HIS DYING BT«* 
HAVIOR. 

Hejteclions on thejincerity with which the preceding advices have 
been given. §. 1 . The author is defirous, that (if providence 
permit) he may ajjijl the Chriftian to die honorably and com™ 
fort ably. §. 2, 3. With this view it is advifed. (i.J To rid 
the mind of all earthly cares. §. 4. (2.) To renew the hu~ 
miliation of the foul before God, and its application to the Hood 
ef Chrijl. §. $. (3.) To exercife patience under bodily pains 
and for rows. §. 6. (4.) At leaving the world, to bear art 
honorable tejlimony to religion. §. 7. {$.) To give afolemn 
charge to furviving friends, §. 8. efpecially recommending 
faith in Chrijl. §. 9. (6.) To keep the promifes of God in. 
view. §. 10, II. And, fj.) To commit the departing fpirit 
to God, in the genuine exercifes of gratitude and repentance, 
faith and charity ; §. 12. which are exemplified in the con* 
eluding meditation and prayer, 

V " X HUS", my dear reader, I have endeavoured to 

lead you through a variety of circumilances ; and thofe, 

1 not fancied and imaginary, but fuch as do indeed occur in 

the human and Chriftian life. And I can truly and chear- 

fully fay, that I have maiked out to you the path which 

I have myfelf trod, and in which it is my defire ftill to go 

c 2 on, 

(e) Luke xii. 35* 



32-G To die honorably and comfortably, Ch. 30^ 

on. I have ventured my own everlafting interefts on that 
foundation, on which I have dire<5ted you to adventure 
yours. What I have recommended as the grand bufmefs 
of your life, I defire to make the bufmefs of my own : and 
the moll considerable enjoyments, which I expect or defire 
in the remaining days of my pilgrimage on earth, are 
fuch as 1 have directed you to feek, and endeavoured to 
aflift you in attaining. Such love to God, fuch conftant 
activity in his fervice, fuch pleafurable views of what lies 
beyond the grave, appear to me >God is my witnefs,) a 
felicity incomparable beyond any thing elfe which can of- 
fer itfelf to our affection and purfuit : And I would not 
for ten thoufand worlds rtflgn my fhare in them, or con- 
fent even to the fufpenfion of the delights which they af- 
ford, during the remainder of my abode here. 

§. 2. I would humbly hope, through ihc divine blefT- 
ing, that the hours you have fpent in the review cf thefe 
plain things may have turned to fome profitable account 5 
and that in confequence of what you have read, you have 
either been brought into the way of life and peace, or been 
induced to quicken your pace in it. Mod heartily mould 
I rejoice in being further ufeful to you, and that even to 
the lad. Now there is one fcene remaining ; a fcene> 
through which you muit infallibly pafs ; which has fome- 
thing in it fo awful, that I cannot but attempt doing a lit- 
tle to aflift you in it ; I mean the dark valley of the fha- 
dow of death. I could earnefUy wifh, that, for the credit 
of your profedion, the comfort of your own foul, and the 
joy and edification of your furviving friends, you might 
die, not only fafely, but honorably too : And therefore 
I would offer you a few parting advices. I am fenfible, in- 
deed, that providence may determine the circumftances of 
your death in fuch a manner, as that you may have no 
opportunity of acting upon the hints I now give you.- 
Some unexpected accident from without, or from within, 
may as it were whirl you to heaven before you are aware : 
and you may find yourfelf fo fuddenly there, that it may 
feem a translation, rather than a death. Or it is pofiible, 
the force of a diltemper may affect your underftanding in 
fuch a manner, that you may be quite infenfible of the 
circumftance in which you are j and fo your defolution 

(though 



Ch. £o. youjhouldgtt rid of earthly cares, 321 

(though others may fee it vifibly and certainly approach- 
ing,) may be as great a furprife to you, as if you had died 
in full health. 

$. 3. But as it is on the whole probable, youmay hav« 
a more fenflble paifage out of time into eternity ; and as 
much may, in various refpects, depend on your dying be- 
haviour ; give me leave to propofe fome plain directions 
with relation to it, to be practifed, if God give you op- 
portunity, and remind you of them. It may not be im- 
proper to look over the xxixth chapter again, when you 
iind the fymptoms of any threatning diforder : And I the 
rather hope, that what I fay may be ufeful to you, as me- 
thinks I find myfelf difpofed to addrefs you with fome- 
thing of that peculiar tendernefs *'hich we feel for a dying 
friend ; to whom, as we expect that we fhall fpeak to hfm 
no more, we fend out as it were all our hearts in every word. 

§. 4. I would advife then, in the firfl place, « that, as 
Toon as poffible, you would endeavour to get rid of all fur- 
ther care with regard to your temporal concerns, by fet- 
tling them in time in as reafonable and Chriftian a man- 
ner as you can.' I could wifli, there may be nothing of 
th:-it kind to hurry your mind when you are leaft able to 
bear it, CT to diflrefs or divide thofe w T ho come after you. 
Do that, which in the prefence of God you judge moft 
equitable, and w&foh you verily believe will be moft pleaf- 
ing to him. Do it in as prudent and effectual a manner, 
as you can : And then, confider the world as a place you 
have quite done with, and its affairs as nothing further to 
you, more than to one actually dead; unlefs as you may do 
any good to its inhabitants, while yet you continue among 
them ; and may, by any circumftances in your laft actions 
or words in life, leave a bleffing behind you to thofe who 
have been your friends and fellow travellers, while you 
have been difpatching that journey through it, which you 
are now finifhing. 

§. 5. That you may be the more at leifure, and the bet- 
ter prepared for this, " enter into fome ferious review of 
your own (late : and endeavour to put your foul into as 
fit a pofture as poffible, for your folemn appearance be- 
fore God." For a folemn thing, indeed, it is, to go into 
his immediate prefence 3 to Hand before him, not as a 

fupplicant 



322 Look to Chritl, ami exercife patience* Ch. 3<% 

fuppllcant at the throne of his grace, hut at his bar as a fe- 
parate fpirit whofe time of probation is over, and whofe 
eternal ftate is to be immediately determined. Renew your 
humiliation before God for the imperfections of your life, 
though it has in the main been devoted to his iervice. 
Renew your application to the mercies of God as promif- 
ed in the covenant of grace, and to the blood of Chriit as 
the bleiTed channel in which they flow. Reiign yourfelt 
entirely to the divine difpofal and conduct, as willing to 
ferve God, either in this world or the other, as he fhall fee 
fit. And feniible of your fmfulnefs on the one hand, and 
of the divine wifdom and goodnefs on the other, fummon 
up all the fortitude of your foul to bear as well as you can 
whatever his afflicting hand may further lay upon you, 
and to receive the laft ftroke of it, as one who would 
maintain the moft entire fubjection to the great and good 
father of fpirits. 

<S. 6. Whatever you fufTer, " endeavour tofhew your- 
felf an example of patience." Let that amiable grace 
4 have its perfect work ;* (a) and fmce it has fo little more 
to do, let it clofe the fcene nobly. Let there not be a mur- 
muring word ; and that there may not, watch againft tf- 
very repining thought : And when you feel ar*y thing 
of that kind arifmg, look by faith up oil & dying 
faviour, and aik your own heart, "Was not his crofs 
much more painful, than the W on which I lie ? Was 
not his fituation among bl<*>d thirfty enemies infinitely 
more terrible, than mine amidft the tendernefs and care of 
fo many affectionate friends ? Did not the heavy load of 
my fins prefs him in a much more overwhelming manner, 
than I am preifed with the load of thefe afni&ions ? And 
yet he bore all * as a lamb that is brought to the 
{laughter.' (b) Let the remembrance of his lufferings be 
a means to fweeten yours ; yea, let it caufe you to rejoice,- 
when you are called to bear the crofs for. a little while, 
before you wear the crown* Count it all joy, that you 
have an opportunity yet once more of honouring God by 
vour patience, which is now acting its laft part, and will 
in a few days, perhaps in a few hours, be fuperfeded by 
compleat everlafting bleftednefs. And I am willing to 

hope* 
(a) Jam. i. 4. (b) Ifai. liii. 7. 



Ch. 30. Bear an honourable tejtimony to religion. 323. 

hope, that in thefe views you will not only fupprefs all 
paflionate complaints, but that your mouth will be filled 
with the'praifes of God ; ^and that you will be fpeaking to 
thofe that are about you not only of his juftice but of his 
goodnefs too. So that you will be enabled to communi- 
cate your inward joys in fuch a manner, as may be a 
lively and edifying comment upon thofe words of the 
apoftle, * tribulation worketh patience ; and patience, ex- 
perience ; and experience, hope ; even a hope which 
maketh not amamed, while the love of God is ihed abroad 
in our hearts, by the holy gholi which is given 
unto us. J (c) 

§. 7. And now, my dear friend, " now is the time, when 
it is efpecially expeded from you, that you bear an 
honourable teftimony to religion." Tell thofe that are 
about you, as well as you can, (for you never will be able 
fully to exprefs it,) what comfort and fupport you have 
found in it. Tell them, how it has brightened the darkeft 
circumftances of your life: Tell them how it now 
reconciles you to the near views of death. Your words 
will carry with them a peculiar weight at fuch a feafon : 
There will be a kind of eloquence, even in the infirmities 
with which you are draggling, while you give them 
utterance ; and you will be heard with attention, with 
tendernefs, with credit. And therefore, when the time of 
your departure is at hand, with unaffected freedom 
breathe out your joy, if you then feel (as I hope you will,) 
an holy joy and delight in God. Breathe out, however* 
your inward peace and ferenity of mind, if you be then 
peaceful and ferene: Others will mark it, and be 
encouraged to tread the fteps which lead to fo happy an 
end. Tell them, what you feel of the vanity of the world ; 
and they may learn to regard it lefs : Tell them, wiiat 
you feel of the fubftantialfupports of the gofpel ; and they 
may learn to value it more : For they cannot but know, 
that they muft lie down on a dying bed too, and muft 
then need all the relief which the gofpel itfelf can give 
them. 

4. 8. And to inforce the coswiclion the more, "give a 
foiemn charge to thofe that are about you, that they i^end 

their 
(c) Rom. r. 3, 4, 5, 



524 Recommend faith in Chriji to others : Ch. 3®. 

their lives in the fervice of God, and govern themielves by 
the principles of real religion. " You may remember, that 
Jofhua and David, and other good men did fo ; when they 
perceived that the days drew near in which they mould 
die. And you know not, how the admonitions of a 
dying friend, or (as it may be with refpecl to fome,) of a 
dying parent, may imprefs thofe who may have disregard- 
ed what you and others may have faid to them before. 
At leaft, make the trial : and die, labouring to glorify 
God, to fave fouls, and generoufly to fow the feeds of 
goodnefs and happinefs in a world, where you have no 
more harvefts to reap. Perhaps they may fpring up in a 
plentiful crop, when the clods of the valley are covering 
your body: But, if not, God will approve it; and the 
angels, that wait around your bed to receive your depar- 
ting foul, will look upon each other with marks of approba- 
tion in their countenance, and own, that this is to expire like 
aChriftian,& tomake a glorious improvement of mortality. 
§. 9. And in this laft addrefs to your fellow-mortals, 
whoever they are that providence brings near you, " be 
fure that you tell them, how entirely and how cheerfully 
your hopes and dependance in this feafon of the laft 
extremity are fixed, not upon your own merits and 
obedience, but on what the great redeemer has done, and 
has fuffered for fmners. " Let them fee that you die, as 
it were, at the foot of the crofs : Nothing will be fo com- 
fortable to yourfelves, nothing fo edifying to them. Let 
the name of Jefus therefore be in your mouth, while you 
are able to fpeak ; and, when you can fpeak no longer, let 
it be in your heart, and endeavour that the laft ad of your 
foul, while it continues in the body, may be an aft of 
humble faith in Chrift. come unto God by him : enter 
into that which is within the veil, as with the blood of 
fprinkling frefh upon you. It is an awful thing for fuch a 
finner, (as you, my ohriftian friend, with all the virtues 
the world may have admired, know yourfelf to be,) to 
ftand before that infinitely pure and holy being, who has 
feen all your ways, and all your heart, and has a perfect 
knowledge of every mixture of imperfection which has 
attended the beft of your duties : but venture in that 
way, and you will find it both fafe and pleafant. 

§. 10. 



Ch. 30. And hep the promifes of God in view* $2^ 

$.10. Once more, " To give you comfort in a dying 
hour, and to fupport your feeble fteps while you are 
travelling thro' this dark and painful way, take the word 
of God as a ftaif in your hand. " Let books and mortal 
friends, now do their laft office for you. Call, if you can, 
fome experienced chriftian, who has felt the power of the 
word of God upon his own heart ; and let him bring the 
fcripture, and turn you to fome of thofe precious promifes, 
which have been the food and rejoicing of his own foul. 
It is with this view, that I may carry the good office I 
am now engaged in as far as poffible, I mall here give you 
a collection of a few fuch admirable fcriptures, each of 
them ' infinitely more valuable than thoufands of gold 
and filver. ' (d) And to convince you of the degree in 
which I efteem them, I will take the freedom to add, that 
Idefire, they may (if God give an opportunity,) be read 
over to me, as I lie on my dying bed, with fnort intervals 
between them ; that I may paufe upon each, and renew 
fomething of that delightful relifh, which, I blefs God, I 
have often found in them. May youf foul and mine be 
then compofed to a facred filence, (whatever be the 
commotion of animal nature,) while the voice of God 
fpeaks to us, in language which he fpake to his fervants 
of old, or which he inftrucTed them how they mould fpeak 
to him, in circumftances of the greater! extremity ! 

§. 1 1. Can any more encouragement be wanting, when 
he ' fays, fear not, for I am with thee ; be not difmayed, 
for I am thy God : I will ftrengthen thee, yea I will help 
thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my 
righteoufnefs. ' (e) And he is not a man, that he mould 
lie ; or the fon of man, that he mould repent : hath he faid, 
and mall he not do it ? Or hath he fpoken, and mail he 
not make it good ?' (f) — * The Lord is my light, and my 
falvation, whom (hall I fear ? The Lord is the ftrength of 
my life, of whom lhall I be afraid V (g) * This God is 
our God forever and ever : He will be our guide even un- 
to death.' (h) Therefore, * though I walk through the 
valley of the fhadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for 
thou art with me, thy rod and thy ftaif, they comfort 

me.' [i] 

(d) Pfal. cxix- 72. (e) Ifai. xli. 10. (fj Num. xxiii. 19. 
(g) Pfal. xivii. 1. (hj Pfal. xlviii. 14. (i) Pfal. «jnit 4. 



326 AtoUe8ion of ' fuiteble promlfes* Ch. 3c 

me.' (1) 'I have waited for thy falvation, O Lord.' (k) 
* O continue thy loving kindnefs unto them that know 
thee, and thy righteoufnefs to the upright in heart ! For 
with thee is the fountain of life ; in thy light ihall we fee 
light/ (1) ' Thou wilt fiiew me the path of life; in thy 
prefence is fulnefs of joy, at thy right hand theie are pleas- 
ures fore verniore.' (m) 'As for me, I fhall behold thy 
face in righteoufnefs : I fhall be fatisfied, when I awake,- 
with thy likenefs.' (n) * For I know in whom I have be- 
lieved, and am perfuaded that he is able to keep what I 
have committed to him until that day/ (o) ' Therefore 
my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth ; my flefh alfo 
ihall reft in hope.' [p] ' For, if we believe, that Jefus di- 
ed, and rofe again, thofe alfo that deep in Jefus will God 
bring with him.' ( q] — * I give unto my fheep eternal 
life, (faid Jefus, the good fhepherd,) and they Ihall nev- 
ier perifh, neither fhall any pluck them out of my hand.' 
[ r J ' This is the will of him that fent me, that every one, 
that,believeth on me, fhall have everlafling life; and I will 
raife him up at the lafl day.' [s j ' Let not your heart be 
troubled ; ye believe in God, believe alfo in me. In my 
father's houfe are many manfions ; if it were not fo, I 
would have told you : I go to prepare a place for you : 
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come 
again, and receive you to myfelf, that where I 
am, there ye may be alfo.' [tj * Go, tell my brethren, 
I afcend unto my father and your father, and to my God 
and your God.' [u] * Father, I will that thofe whom thou 
haft given me, be with me where I am, that they may be- 
hold my glory which thou haft given me'; that the love 
wherewith thou haft loved me, may be in them, and I in 
them.' [x] — ' He, that teftineth thefe things, faith furely 
I. come quickly. Amen. Even fo, come, Lord Jefus !' [y] 
* G death where is thy fting ? O grave, where is thy vic- 
tory ? Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory 
through our lord Jefus Chrift.' [z j 

§. I2» 

£k] Gen. xlix. 18. [1] Pfal. xxxvi. 9, 10. [m] Pfal. xvi. 
11. [n] Pfal. xvii. 15. [o] 2 Tim. i. 12. fp] Pfal. xvi. 9. 
|~q] 1 TheiT. iv. 14. [r] John x. 28. [sj John vi. 40. 
LtJ Johnxiv. 1, 2, 3. [u] John xx. 17. [x] John xvii. 24, 
a 6. [y] Rev. xxii. 20. [z] 1 Cor. xv. 55, 57, 



<£h. 3'o. A meditation and prayer, 327 

§. 12. Thus may that God, who « knows the fouls of his 
children, in all their ad verfities,' (a) and ' in whofe fight 
•the death of his faints is precious,' (b, chear and fupport 
you and me in thofe laft extremities of nature ! May he 
add us to the happy number of thofe, who have been more 
than conquerors in death ! And may he give us thofe 
fupplies of his fpirit which may enable us to pour out our 
departing fouls in fuch fentiments, as thofe I would now 
fuggeft ; though we mould be no longer able to utter 
words, or to under ftand them if they were to be read to 
us ! Let us at leaft review them with all proper affections 
now, and lay up one prayer more for that awful moment ! 
O that this, and all we have ever oifered with regard to it, 
may then * come in remembrance before God ! ; >c) 

^Meditation and Prayer, fulied to the cafe of a dying 
Christian. 



" f\ THOU fupreme ruler of the vifible and invifible 
^-^ worlds ! Thou fovereisn of life, and of death, 0/ 



Le 
ign ol lite, ana or aeatn, o* 
earth, and of heaven ! Bleffed be thy name, I have often 
been taught to feek thee. And now once more do I pour 
out my foul, my departing foul, unto thee. Bow down 
thy gracious ear, O God, and let my cry come before 
thee with acceptance ! 

" The hour is come, when thou wiltfeperate me from 
this world, with which I have been fo long and ib famili- 
arly acquainted, and lead me to another, as yet unknown. 
Enable me, I befeech thee, to make the exchange, as be- 
comes « a child of Abraham, who, being called of thee to 
■receive an inheritance, obeyed and went out, though he 
knew not particularly whither he went ;' (d) as becomes 
a < child of Cod, who knows, that through fovereign 
grace, it is his father's good pleafure to give him the 
kingdom !' (e) 

" I acknowledge, O Lord, the juftice of that fentence 
by which I am expiring ; and own thy wifdom and good- 
nefs in appointing my journey through this glopmy vale 
which is now before me. Help rne to turn it into the 
happy oc honoring thee, and adorning 

D d ieC 



fa '• I 
(dj Heb, si 



328 fitted to the cafe of a dying Chriftian. Ch. 30, 

feffion ! and I will blefs the pangs, by which thou art 
glorified, and this mortal and finful part of my nature is 
diifolved. 

" Gracious father, I would not quit this earth of 
thine, and this houfe of clay in which I have fojourned 
during my abode upon the face of it, without * my grate- I 
fill acknowledgments to thee, for all that abundant good- | 
nefs which thou haft caufed to pafs before me here.' (f) 
With ( my dying breath, I bear witnefs to thy faithful care, 
I have wanted no good thing.' (g) I thank thee, O my 
God, that this guilty, forfeited, unprofitable life was fo 
long fpared : That it hath been ftill maintained by fuch a 
rich variety of thy bounty. I thank thee, that thou haft 
made this beginning of my exiftence fo pleafant to me* 
I thank thee, for the mercies of my days and nights, of 
my months and years, which are now come to their peri- 
od : I thank thee, for the mercies of my infancy, and for 
thofe of my riper age ; for all the agreeable friends which 
thou haft given me in this houfe of my pilgrimage, the 
living and the dead ; for all the help I have received from 
ethers, and for all the opportunities which thou bait given 
me of being helpful to the bodies or fouls of my brethren 
of mankind. ' Surely goodnefs and mercy have followed 
me all the days of my life,' (h) and I have reafon to rife 
a thankful gueft from the various and pleafant entertain- 
ments with which my table has been furniihed by thee. 
Nor ihall I have reafon to repine, or to grieve at quitting 
them : For, O my God, are thy bounties exhausted ? I 
know, that they are not. I will not wrong thy goodnefs 
and thy faith fulnefe'fo much, as to imagine, that becaufe 
I am going from earth, I am going from happinefs. I 
'adore thy mercy, that thou haft taught me to entertain 
nobler views through Jefus thy fon. I blefs thee with all 
the powers of my nature, that I ever heard of his 
name, and heard of his death : And would fain 
exert a more vigorous act of thankful adoration, 
than in this broken ftate I am capable of, while I am 
extolling thee, for the riches of thy' grace manifefted in 
him ; for his inftrudions and his example, for his blood 

and 

(f) Exod. xxxiii.- 19. (g) Pfal. xxxiv. 10, '(h) F&** 
xxiii. 6. 



Ch. 30. A meditation and prayer, 329 

and his righteoufhefs, and for that blefled fpirit of thine 
which thou haft given me, to turn my finful heart unto 
thyfelf, and to bring me * into the bonds of thy covenant ; 
of that covenant, which is ordered in all things and fare,* 
(i) and which this death, though now feparating my foul 
from my body, fhall never be able to diilblve. 

" I blefs thee, O Lord, that I am not dying in an un- 
regenerate and impenitent ftate ; but that thou didft gra- 
ciously awaken and convince me ; that thou didft renew 
and fanclify my heart, and didft by thy good fpirit work 
in it an unfeigned faith, a real repentance, and the begin- 
ning of a divine life. I thank thee, for minifters and or- 
dinances : I thank thee, for my fabbaths, and my facra- 
ment days ; for the weekly and monthly refrefhments 
which they gave me : I thank thee, for * the fruits of 
Canaan, which were fent me in the wildernefs,. and are 
-nowfent me on the brink of Jordan. I thank thee, for 
thy bleffed word, and for thofe exceeding rich and preci- 
ous promifes of it, which now lie as a cordial warm at my 
heart in this chilling hour ; promifes of fupport in death, 
and of glory beyond it, and of the refurrection of my bo- 
dy to eveilaftinglife. O my God, I firmly believe them 
all, great and wonderful as they are, and am waiting for 
the accomplifhment of them, through Jefus Chrift ; in 
whom they are all yea, and amen.' (k) ' Remember thy 
word unto thy fervant, on which thou haft caufed me to 
hope !' (1) I covenanted with thee, not for worldly en- 
joyments, which thy love taught me comparatively to def- 
pife ; but for ' eternal life, as the gift of free grace thro* 
Jefus Chrift my Lord :' (m) And now permit me * in his 
name to enter my humble claim to it ! Permit me to con- 
fign this departing fpirit into thine hand ; for thou haft 
redeemed it,0 Lord God of truth !' (n) 'I am thine : fave 
me,' (o) and make me happy ! 

" But may I, indeed, prefume to fay, I am thine ? O 
God, now I am Handing on the borders of both worlds, 
now I view things as in the light of thy prefence and of 
eternity, how unworthy do I appear, that I mould be tak- 
en to dwell with thy angels and faints in glory ! Alas, 

(i) 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. (k) 2 Cor. i. 20. (1) Pfal. cxix. 49. 
(m) Rom. vi. 23. (a) Pfal. exxxi. 4. (o) Pfal. cxix. 94-. 



$5° fuited to the cafe of a dying Chriftiam. CH. 30, 

I have reafon to look back with deep humiliation, on a? 
poor unprofitable finful life, in which I have daily been 
deferving to be cafl into hell. But I have this one com- 
fortable reflection, that I have fled to the crofs of Chrift j 
and I now renew my application to it. To think of ap- 
pearing before God in fuc-h an imperfect righteoufnefs as 
my own, were ten thoufand times worfe than death. No> 
Lord ! I come unto thee as a finner ; but as a finner, 
who has believed in thy fon for pardon and life : I fall 
down before thee as a guilty polluted wretch ; but thou 
hail made him to be unto thy people for * wifdom and righ- 
teoufnefs, for fanctification and redemption.' (p) Let me 
have my "lot among the followers of Jefus ! Treat me, as thou 
treateft thofe who are his friends and his brethren ! for 
thou knoweft., my foul has loved him, and trufted him, 
and folemnly ventured itfelf on the fecurity of his gofpel. 
And ' I know in whom I have believed.' (q) The infer- 
nal lion may attempt to difmay me in this awful pafTage : 
But I rejoice, that I am ' in the hands of the good fhep- 
herd ;' (r) and I defy all my fpiritual enemies, in a chear- 
ful dependance on his faithful care. I lift up my eyes 
airdmy heart to him, who * was dead and is alive again ; 
and behold, he lives for evermore, and hath the keys of 
death and of the unfeen world.' (s) BlefTed Jefus, I die 
by thine hand, and I fear no harm from the hand of a fa- 
viour ! I fear not that death, which is allotted to me by.-' 
the hand of my dearefl Lord, who himfelf died to make 
it fafe and happy. I come, Lord, I come, not only with 
a willing, but with a joyful confent. I thank thee, that 
thou ' remembered me for good ; that thou art breaking 
my chains, and calling me to the glorious liberty of the 
children of God.' (t) I thank thee, that thou wilt no lon- 
ger permit meto live at a di fiance from thine arms ; but, after 
this long abfence, wilt have me at home, at home forever. 

" My feeble nature faints in the view of that glory, 
which is now dawning upon me : But thou knoweft how, 
gracious Lord, to let it in upon my foul by juft degrees, 
and to * make thy ftrength perfect in my weaknefs.' (u) 
Once more for the laft time, would I look down on this 

poor 

(p) 1 Cor. i. 30. (q) 2 Tim. i. 12. (r) John x. 11, 
28. (s) Rev- i. 18. (t) Rom. viii. 21. (u) 2 Cor. xii. g* 



Ch, 30. A Meditation and prayer, Sec- 33 1 

poor world which I am going to quit, and breathe out my 
dying vows for its profperity, and that of thy church in it. 
I have loved it, O Lord, as a living member of the body j 
and I love it to the laft. I humbly befeech thee, therefore, 
that thou wilt guard it, and purify it, and unite it more 
and more ! Send down more of thy blefted fpirit upon it, 
even the fpirit of wifdom, of holinefs, and of love ; till, in 
due time, * the wildernefs be turned into a garden of the 
Lord, (w) and * all flefh fhall fee thy falvation !' (x) 

" And as for me, bear me, O my heavenly father, oil 
the wings of everlafting love to that peaceful, that holy, 
that joyous abode, which thy mercy has prepared for me, 
and which the blood of my redeemer hath purchafed ! 
Bear me * to the general afTembly and church of the firft 
born, to the innumerable company of angels, and to the 
fpirits of juft men made perfect !' (y) And whatever this 
flefh may fuffer, let my fteady foul be delightfully fixed 
on that glory to which it is rifmg ! Let faith perform its 
laft office in an honorable manner ! Let my few remain- 
ing moments on earth be fpent for thy glory j and fo let 
me afcend, with love in my heart, and piaife on my faul- 
tering tongue, to the world where love and praife lhall be 
compleat ! be this my laft fong on earth, which I am go- 
ing to tune in heaven ; ■ blefting, and honor, and glory, 
and power be unto him that litteth on the throne, and to 
the lamb forever and ever !' (z) Amen. 

(w) Ifai. li. 3. (x) Luke iii. 6. (y) Heb. xii. 22, 23. 
(z) Rev. v. 13. 



d 2 



33 2 Family religion recommended 



A PLAIN AND SERIOUS ADDRESS TO THE MASTER 

of a FAMILY. 



'SSEigaK 



S I i?, 



Y 

A OU may eafily apprehend, that the many inter 
ruptions to which perfonal vifits are liable, make it diffi- 
cult for minifters to find a convenient time, in which they 
may apply themfelves fuitably and largely to thofe com- 
mitted to their care ; or at leaft, if they refolve to do it, 
will neceffarily make their progrefs through large con- 
gregations very flow. I therefore take this method of 
viiiting you while alone, and of addreffing you on the ve- 
ry important fubject of Family Religion. For your own 
fake, and the fake of thofe deareft to you, I entreat yott- 
to give me a calm attentive hearing. And J would par- 
ticularly defire, that if it be by any means practicable, (as 
with a little contrivance and refolution I hope itmay,)you 
would fecure one hour on the morning of the Lord's day 
after you receive it, not merely to run over this letter in 
a curfory manner, but deliberately to weigh and confider 
it, and to come to fome determination, as in the fight of 
God, that you ttnll, or that you tuill not, comply with the 
petition which it brings ; if I may not rat-her fay, with the 
Remand which in his name it makes upon you. 

As I purpofe to deliver it to every mafter of a family 
under my ftated care, or to every miftrefs where there is 
no mafter, (that no offence of any kind may be taken, 
which it is in my power to prevent,) I know it will come 
to many, who have long been exemplary for their dili- 
gence and zeal in the duties I am recommending ; to 
many, whom their own experience hath inftructed in the 
pleasures and advantages which flow from them ; an ex- 
perience, 



to the majler of a family. 333 

perience, which will enforce them more -effectually than 
any thing which it is poffible for me to fay. Such will, I 
hope, by what they read, be confirmed in purfuing the 
good refolution they have taken, and the good cuftoms 
they have formed ; and will alfo be excited more earneft- 
ly to endeavour to contribute towards introducing the 
like, into other families over which they have any influ- 
ence, and efpecially into thofe which may branch out 
from their own, by the fettlement of children or fervants» 
In this view, as. well as to awaken their thankfulnefs to 
divine grace, which hath inclined them to the difcharge 
of their duty in fo great, yet fo frequently neglected, an 
article of it, I hope the heads of praying families will not 
perufe this letter in vain. But it is intended as an addrefs 
to thofe, who have hitherto lived in the omiffion of it : 
And if there were but one fuch mailer of a family under 
my care, I would gladly fubmit to the labour in which I 
am now engaging for his fake alone. To fuch, therefore, I 
now turn myfelf ; and O that divine grace might engage 
every one of fuch a character to hear me with attention* 
and might enforce upon his confcience the weight of rea= 
fons, the evidence of which the loweil may receive, and to 
which it is impoffible that the higher! fhould find any 
thing folid to object ! 

O my dear friend, whoever you are, (for I know no 
one under my care to whom I may not addrefs that ap- 
pellation) give me leave to tell you plainly, that while I 
write this 1 have that awakening fcripture in my view 5 
Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and up- 
on THE FAMILIES THAT CALL NOT ON THT 
NAME.* I appeal to you as a man of ordinary fenfe 
and underftanding (as it needs no more,) to judge whe- 
ther this do not ftrongly imply that it may be taken for 
granted, every family, which is not a heathen family, which 
is not quite ignorant of the living and true God, will call 
upon his name. Well may it then pain my heart, to think 
that theie fhould be a profeffedly ChriJUan family, whom 
this dreadful character fuits. Well may it pain my heart, 
to think of the divine fury, which may be poured out on the 
heads and on the members of it : And well may it make 

me 
* Jer. x. 25, 



334 Family religion recommended 

me defirous," to do my utmoft to fecure you and yours 
from every appearance, from every poflibility of fuch dan- 
ger. Excufe the earneftnefs with which I may addrefs 
you. I really fear, left, while you delay , the Jire of the divine 
difplezfure ihould fall upon you : f And as I adore the 
patience of God in having thus long fufpended the ftorm, 
lam anxious about every hour's delay, left it mould fall 
the heavier. 

I will, therefore, as plainly and feriouflyasl can endea- 
vor to convince you of your duty, if, perad venture, you 
are not already fecretly convinced of it ; as truly I believe, 
moft, who neglect it, under the regular adminiftration of 
gofpel ordinances, are. I will then touch on a few of 
thole objections, which have been pleaded to excufe, in 
fome degree, fo fhameful an omiffion. And this will na- 
turally lead me to conclude with a few hints, which may 
ferve by way of direction, for the proper introduction and 
difcharge of the fervices to which I am endeavouring to 
engage you. 

I mean not to handle the fubject at large, which would 
afford abundant matter for a confiderable volume ; as, in- 
deed, feveral volumes have been written upon it, by di- 
vines of different denominations, who, however various in 
other opinions, agree here ; as what intelligent Christians 
can difagree . ? But I mean to fuggeft a few plain things, 
which, it is evident, you have not fufficientlv confidered, 
and which, if duly weighed, may, by the bleffing of God, 
anfwer my prefent purpofe. 

Now the arguments I mall propofe will be fuch, that if 
you will not regard them, little is to be hoped from any 
other : For furely the mind of man can difcover none of 
greater and more univerfal importance ; though I readi- 
ly acknowledge, that many others might enforce them 
with greater energy and addrefs. Yet if the defire, the 
moft earneft defire of fucceeding can add any of the pro- 
per arts of perfuafion, they will not be wanting here. 
And I would fain fpeak, as one who confiders, how much 
of the glory of God, how much of your own happinefs, 
and that of your dear children, for time and eternity, de- 
pends en the fuccefs of what I am now to lay before you. 

What 
t Gen. xix. 16*, 17. 






to the majler of a family,* 3-3 £ 

What I defire and entreat of you, is, that you would 
honour and acknowledge God in your families, by calling 
them together every day, to hear fome part of his word; 
read to them, and to offer, for a few minutes at leaft, 
your united confeffions, prayers and praifes to him. And 
is this a caufe, that mould need to be pleaded at large by 
a great variety of united motives ? Truly the petition 
feems fo reafonable, and a compliance with it from one 
who has not quite renounced religion, might feem fo na- 
tural, that one would think the bare propofmg it might 
fuffice. Yet experience tells us, it is much otherwife. 
This letter will come into the hands of fome, who, though' 
they maintain a public profeflion of religion, have been 
again and again exhorted to it in vain, and that, perhaps., 
for fucceeding years. I might fay a great deal to upbraid 
fuch and efpecially, on account of this neglect ; but I ra- 
ther choofe to entreat to the future performance of the du- 
ty ; humbly hoping, that, criminal as former negligence 
has been, a gracious God will mercifully forgive it, to 
thofe who repent and- defire to reform. 

And O that I could engage you to this, by reprefent- 
ing in the plainelt, kindelt, and mofi affectionate manner, 
the reafonablenefs and advantage of this duty ! For if it be 
reafonable, if it be evidently advantageous, there are 
numberlefs general precepts of fcripture, which mult, com- 
prehend and enforce it, if it were lefs immediately fup- 
portedthanit is by particular pajfages: which yet, as Iihall 
prefently mew, do many of them ftrongly recommend it tous. 

Confider, Sir, for I addrefs myfelf to every particular 
perfon, ferioufly confider the apparent reafonablenefs of Fami- 
ly Religion. Muft not your confciences prefently tell you, 
it is fit that perfons who receive fo many mercies together, 
fhould acknowledge them together ? Ca» you in your 
own mind be fatisjed, that you and your neareft relatives 
fhould pay no joint homage to that God, who hath fet 
you in your family, and who hath given to you, and to the 
feveral members of it, fo many domeftic enjoyments ? Your 
creator and theirs, your preferver and theirs, your daily be- 
nefactor and theirs ? Can it be right, if you have any fenfe of 
tnefe things, each of you in your own hearts, that the 
fenfe of them fhould be concealed and fmothered 

there* 



336 Family religion recommends 

there, and that you fhould never join in your grateful ac- 
knowledgments to him ? Can you imagine it reafonable, 
that when you have conftant dependence upon him for fo 
many mercies, without the concurrence of which, your fa- 
mily would be a fcene of mifery, you fhould never pre- 
fect yourfelves together in his prefence, to afk them at his 
hand ? Upon what principles is public worfhip to be re- 
commended and urged, if not by fuch as have their pro- 
portionable weight here ? 

Indeed the force of thefe confiderations hath not only 
been known and acknowledged by the people of God in 
all ages ; we have not only Noah and Abraham, Jojhua and 
David, Job and Darnel, each under a much darker difpen- 
fation than ours, as examples of it : But we may venture 
to fay, that wherever there has been a profeflion of any 
kind of religion, it has been brought into private houfes 
as well as public temples. The poor heathens, as we cer- 
tainly know from the remaining monuments of them, 
had their Lares and their Penates, which were houfehold 
images, fome of them in private chapels, and others about 
the common hearth, where the family ufed to worfhip 
them by frequent prayers and facrifices. And the brafs, 
and wood, axi&Jlone, of which they confided, mail (as it 
were) cry out againjl you, fhall rife up againft you and con-, 
demn you, if while you call yourfelves the worfhippers of 
the one living and eternal God, and boafl in the revelation 
you have received by his prophets and by his Son, you 
prefume to omit an homage, which the, ftupid worfhip- 
pers of fuch vanities as thefe failed not to prefent to them, 
while they called them their gods. Be perfuaded then, 
I befeech you, to be confident in your conduct. Either 
give up all pretences to religion, or maintain a fteady 
and uniform regard to it, at home as well as abroad, in 
the family as well as in the clofet, or at church. 

But the reafonablenefs of this duty, and the obligati- 
ons which bind you in confcience to the practice of it, 
will farther appear, if you confider the many advantages, 
which will, by the divine bleffing, attend a proper dis- 
charge of it. And here I would more particularly repre- 
ient the good influence, which family devotions are likely 
to have upon the young perfons committed to your care, 

upon 



to the mafier of a family, 337 

upon your own hearts ; and upon the advancement of a 
general reformation and the propagation of religion to 
thofe that are yet unborn. 

Confider in the ririt place, what is moil obvious, the 
happy influence which the duty I am recommending 
might have upon the young members of your family, the 
children and fcwants committed to your care. For I now 
conader you, as a paren': ; and a mafter. The father fa 
family, is a phrafe, that comprehends both thefe relations ; 
and, with great propriety, as humanity obliges ustoendea- 
vorto take aparcntal care of all under our roof. Andindeed, 

You ought to coniideryour firvants, in this view, with 
atender regard. They are, probably, in the flower of life, 
for that is the age which is commonly fpent in fervice : 
And you ihould recollect how poffible it is, that this may 
be if rightly improved, the belt opportunity their whole life 
may afford them for learning religion, and being brought 
under the power of it. If your fervants are already in- 
ftructed in it, by being ? brought up in families where 
thefe duties have been maintained ; let them net, if they 
fhould finally mifcarry, have caufe to impute it to 
you, and to teftify before God in the day of their condem- 
nation, " That it was under your roof that they leaint the 
neglect and fcrgetfulnefs of God, and of ail that their pi- 
ous parents, perhaps, in a much inferior ftation of 
life to you, had in earlier days been attempting to 
teach them; to teach them in moments taken from labor, 
or from repofe almofl neceifary for their fubfiltenee." 

On the other hand, if they come to you quite ignorant 
of religion, (as if they come from prayerlefs families, it is 
very probable that they do,) have companion upon them, 
I entreat you, and endeavor to give them thofe advanta- 
ges which they never yet had ; and, which it is too prob- 
able, as things are generally managed, they never will 
have, if you will not afford them. Eut I would efpe- 
cially, if I might be allowed to borrow the pathetic words 
of Job, * entreat you by the children of your own body. I 
would now as it were prefent them all before you, and be- 
feech you by all the bowels of parental affection, (which I 
Jiave myfelf fo ftrongly felt,) that to all the other tokens 

of 
* Job xix. 17. 



338 Family religion recommended 

of tendernefs and love, you would not refufe to add 
this, without which many of the reft may be wcrfe than 
in vain. 

Give me leave to plead with you, as the inftruments of 
introducing them into being. O remember, it is, indeed, a 
debafed and corrupted nature you have conveyed to them. 
Coniider, that the worid, into which you have been the 
means of bringing them, is a place in which they are fur- 
rounded with many temptations, and in which, as they 
advance in life, they mull expect many more ; fo that in 
plain terms, it is on the whole much to be feared, that they 
will perifh in their ignorance and forgetfulnefs of God, if 
they do, not learn from you to love and ferve him. For 
how can it be expected that they mould learn this at all* 
if you give them no advantages for receiving and practif- 
ing the leflon at home ? 

And let me further urge and intreat you to remember 
that thefe dear children, whofe tender age, and, perhaps, 
amiable forms and difpofitions, might attract the affection 
and folicitude of fti angers, are committed to your efpe- 
^ial and immediate care by God their creator. And he 
has made them thus dependent upon you and others that 
have, in their infancy and childhood, the care of them, that 
there might be hereafter a better opportunity of forming 
their minds, and of influencing them to a right temper 
and conduct. And can this by any means be effectually 
done, if you do not at proper times call them together, to 
attend to the inftructions of the word of God, and to join 
in folemn prayers and fupplications to him ? At leaft is 
it poffible, it mould be done any other way with equal ad- 
vantage, if this be not added to the reft ? 

Family worfhip is a moft proper way of teaching chil- 
dren religion, as you teach them language, by infenfible 
degrees ; a little one day and a little another ; for to 
them line majl he upon line, and precept upon precept. They 
may learn to conceive aright of the divine perfections, 
when they hear you daily acknowledging and adoring 
them : Their hearts may be early touched with pious re- 
morfefor fin, when they hear your confeffions poured out 
before God : They will know what mercies they are to 
afk for themfelves, by obferving what turn your petitions 

take : 



to the majler of a family* ggcj 

. Your interceffions may diffufe into their minds 9 
fpirit of love to mankind, a concern for the intereit. of the 
church, and of their country ; and, what is not, I think, 
by any means to be neglecled, fentiments of loyalty to- 
wards the officers of government, when they hear you dai- 
ly invoking the divine bleffing upon them ; and your 
folemn thanksgivings for the bounties of providence, and 
for benefits of a fpiritnal nature, may affect their hearts 
with thole gracious impreffions towards the gracious au- 
thor of all, which may excite intheir little brealts love, to 
him, the moff. noble and genuine principle of all true and 
acceptable religion. Thus they may become Ch.riit.ians 
by infeniible degrees, and grow in the knowledge and lov.e 
of the truth, as they do in ilature. 

By obferving your reverent and folemn deportment, 
(as reverent and folemn, I hope, it will always at fuch fea- 
fons be,) they may get fome notion of an invifible being, 
before they are of age to underftand the definition of the 
term God ; and may feel their minds fecretly imprerTed 
with an humble awe and veneration, before they can ex- 
plain to you their fenfe of it. And whatever inftruclions 
• you give them concerning his nature and his will, and the 
way of obtaining his favour by Jefus Chrift, all ycur ad- 
monitions relating to the importance of that invifible 
world we are going to, and the neceifary preparation for 
it, will be greatly illullrated by the tenor of your daily 
devotions, as well as by thofe excellent leifon^ which the 
word of God, when folemniy read to' them : morning' and 
evening, will afford. Nor is it by any means to be forgot- 
ten, that while they hear themfelves, and their own con- 
cerns, mentioned before God in prayer, while they hear 
you earneftly pleading for the divine bleffing upon them, 
(efpecially if it be in expreffions wifely varied, as fome 
particular occurrences in their lives and in yours may re- 
quire, ) it may very probably be a means of moving their 
impreffible hearts ; as it may powerfully convince-them of 
ycur deep and tender concern for their good, and may add 
great weight to the instructions you may addrefs to them ; 
So that it may appear, even while you are praying for them y 
that God hears.* And, indeed, I have known fome inftan- 
ces of excellent perfons, who have dated their converfion 
! IlU. lxv. 24. E e - to 



34° PutrMy religion recommended 

to God, even after they had begun vifibly to degenerate, 
from the prayers, from the ferious and pathetic prayers, 
which, they have heard their pious fathers, perhaps I might 
add their pious mothers, prefenting before God on their 
account. 

Indeed were this duty properly attended to, it might 
be expected, that all Chriitian families would according to 
their refpective fizes and circumitances," become nurferies 
of piety ; and you would fee in the moil convincing view 
the wifdom of Providence, in making human infants io 
much more dependent on their parents, and fo much 
more incapable to fhift for themfelves, than the offspring 
of infeiior creatures aie. 

Let me then entreat you, my dear friend, to look on 
your children the very next time you fee them, and ail;; 
your own heart how you cananfwerit to God, and to them, 
that you deprive them of fuch advantages as thefe ? Ad- 
vantages, without which it is to be feared, your care of 
them in other refpects will turn to but little account, 
ihould they be ever fo profperous in life. For what is 
profperity in life without the knowledge, and fear, and 
love of God ? What, but the poifon of the foul, which 
fwells and kills it ? What, but the means of making it more 
certainly, moie deeply, more intolerably miferable ; when 
all its tranfient and empty amufements are paffed away, 
like a dream nvhen one atvakethl* In fhort, not to mention, 
the happy influence it may have on their temporal affairs, 
by drawing down the divine bleffmg, and by forming 
their minds to thofe virtues, which pave the way to wealth 
and reputation, health and contentment, which make no 
enemies, and attract many friends ; it is, with refpect to the 
eternal world, the greater! cruelty to your children thus 
to neglect, giving them thofe advantages, which no othtr 
cares in education i tfelf exclufive of thefe can afford : And 
it is impoiTible you fhould ever be able to give them any 
other equivalent. If you do your duty in this refpect, 
they will have reafon to blefs you living and dying ; and 
if you neglect it take care that you and they come not, in 
confequence of that neglect, into a world, where (horrid 
as the thought may nowfeem,) you will forever be curf- 
ing each other. And thus I am fallen iufenfibl y, becaufe 

Pfal. U^iti, 20, fo 



to the mafter of a family. 34 1 

fo naturally, from what I was faying of the concern and 
intereit of thofe under your care, to your own, fo far as it 
may be diitinguilhed from theirs. 

Let me therefore prefs you to confider, how much your 
oivn intereft is concerned in the matter ; the whole of your 
intereft both fpiritual, and temporal. 

. Your fpiritual inter ejl is infinitely the greatest, and there- 
fore I will begin with that. And here let me ferioufly 
afk you, do you not need thofe advantages for religion, 
which the performance of family duty will give you, added 
to thofe of a morefecretand amore public nature, if parad- 
venture they are regarded by you ? Thefe i nil ructions, thefe 
adorations, thefe confeffions, thefe fupplications, thefe in- 
terceffions, thefe thankfgivings, which may be fo ufeful to 
your children and fervants, may they not be ufeful to 
yourfelves ? May not your oWn hearts havefome peculiar 
advantage for being impreffed, when you are the mouth 
of others in thefe domeltic devotions, beyond what, in a 
private ftation of life, it is otherwife poffible you mould 
have \ O thefe leffons of religion to your own fouls, eve- 
ry morning and evening, might be (if I may be allowed 
die exprelfton) either the feed, orforetafte of falvation to 
you. Nay, the remoter influence they may have on your 
conduct, in other refpects, and at other times, when con- 
fidered merely in the general as religious exercifes per- 
formed by you in your family, is to be recollected as an 
argument of vaft importance. 

A fenfe of common decency would engage you, if you 
pray with your family, to avoid a great many evils, which 
would appear doubly evil in a father or a matter, who kept 
up fuch religious exercifes in his houfe. I will not now, 
Sir, fpeak of yourfelf, for I would not oifend by fuppof- 
ing any thing grofsly bad of you. But do you imagine, 
that, if reading the fcripture and family-prayer were in— 
troduced into the houfes of fome of your neighbours, 
drunkennefs and lewdnefs, and curfmg and fwearing, and 
profaning the Lord's day, would not, like fo many evil 
demons, be quickly driven out ? The mafter of the family 
would not for fhame indulge them, if he had nothing 
more than the form of duty kept up ; and his reformation, 
though only external, and at firft on a kind of conflraint, 

would 



54 2 Family religion recommended 

would carry with it the reformation of many more, who 
have fuch a dependence on his favor as they would not 
facrifice, though by a madnefs very prevalent among the 
children of men they can venture to facrifice their fouls to 
every trifle. 

And may it not, perhaps, be your more immediate con- 
cern, to recollect, that if you prayed with your family, 
you would your/elf be more careful to abjlain from all ap- 
pearance of evil ?* You would find out a way to fupprefs 
that turbulency of paffion, which may now be ready to 
break out before you are aware, and other imprudences, 
in which your own heart would check you by faying, 
" Does this become one, that is by and by to kneel down 
with his domeftics, his children and fervants, and adore 
God with them, and pray againff. every thing which dif- 
pleafes God, and makes us unfit for the heavenly world ft 
I will not fay this will cure every thing that is wrong ; 
but, I believe, you are already perfuaded, it would often 
have a very good influence. And I fear, it is the fecret 
denre of indulging fome irregularities without fuch a re- 
ftraint, that, infamous as fuch a victory is, hath driven 
out family prayer from feveral houfes where it was once 
maintained, and hath excluded it from others. But if you 
have any fecret difmclination of heart arifmg againft it 
>n this view, it becomes you feriouily to take the alarm ; 
for, to fpeak plainly, I have hardly known a blacker 
fymptom of damnation, than a fear of being reftrained in 
the commiffion of fm. 

After this, it may feem a matter of fmaller importance, 
to urge the good influence which a proper difcharge of 
family duty may have upon your own temporal affairs ; 
both by retraining you from many evils, and ^engaging 
you to a proper conduct yourfelf, and alfo by impreffing 
your children and fervants with afenfe of religion. And 
it is cei tain, the more careful they are of their duty to 
God, the more likely they will be to perform their duty 
to you. Nor can any thing ftrengthen your natural au- 
thority among them more, than your prefiding in fuch 
folemnities, if fupported by a fuitable conducl. But I 
would hope, nobler motives will have a fuperior weight. 

And 
#i Thtff.v. 22. 



'to iJxmafter of a family. $^| 

And therefore waving this topic, Iintreat you as the lafi 
argument to coniider, 

The influence it may have on a general reformation 
and on the propagation of religion to thofe who are yet un- 
born. You ought to confider every child and fervant in. 
your family, as one who may be a fource, not only oi life, 
but (in fome degree) of character and happinefs, to thofe. 
who are .hereafter to arife into being ; yea, whole conduit 
may in part affect thofe that are to defcend from them in 
the following generation. If they grow up while under 
your eye, ignorant of religion, they will certainly be much 
iefs capable of teaching it to others ; for thefe are the 
years of discipline, and if they be neglected now, there is 
little probability of their receiving after-inftru#ion — -Nor 
is tlnVall the evil confequence ; for it is highly probable, 
that the/ will think themfelves authorifed by your exam- 
ple to a like negligence, andfo you may entail heathenifm* 
under disregarded Chriftian forms, on your defendants 
and theirs in ages to come. Whereas your diligence and 
zeal might be remembered, and imitated by them, per- 
haps, when you are in your grave ; and the flock which 
they firft received from you, might with rich improve- 
ments be communicated to great numbers, fo that one gen- 
eration after another might learn to fear and ferve the Lord. 
Onjthe whole, God only knows what a church may arife 
from one godly family, what a harveft may fpring up 
from a fmgle feed , and on the other hand, it is impoffi- 
ble to fay. how many fouls may at length perifh by the 
treacherous neglect of a fmgle perfoii, and to fpeak plain- 
ly, by your own. 

Thefe, Sir, are the arguments I had to plead with you, 
and which I have felected out cf many more : And now 
give me leave ferioufly to afk ypu, as in the prefence of 
God, whether there be not, on the whole, an unanfwera- 
ble force in them ? And if there be, what follows, but 
that you immediately yield to that force, and fet up fami- 
ly worfhip this very day. For methinks, I would hardly 
thank you for a refolution to do it to-morrow, fo little do I 
expect from th.\t refolution. How can you excufe your* 
felf in the continued omhTion ? Bring the matter before 
Cod 4 He will be the final judge of it \ an4 if you cannot 
e z debate 



344 Family religion recommended 

debate the queflion as in his prefence, it is a fign of a bad 
caufe and of a bad heart too ; which is confcious of the 
badnefs of the caufe, andyetwillnot give it up, nor comply 
with a duty, of your obligations to which you are fecretly 
convinced, and yet in effect fay, " I wilLgo on in this fin 
and venture the eonfequence." O it is a dreadful venture, 
and will be found in effect provoking the Lord tojealoufy t 
as if you were Jlronger than he.* 

But, perhaps, there may arife in your mind fome objec- 
tions, which may, in fome degree, break the force of thi3 
conviction, and which, in that view, it may be expedient for 
me to difcufs a little, before I difmifs the fubject and clofe 
my addrefs to you. You may, perhaps, be ready to object, 

I. " Thztfamily prayer is not in fo many words com- 
manded infcripture ; and therefore however expedient in 
fome cafes, it cannot be fo univerfal and fo important a 
duty, as we reprefent it." 

I anfwer plainly, that it is ftrongly recommended in 
fcripture, and consequentially commanded ; as there are 
precepts, which plainly include, though they do not par- 
ticularly exprefs it. And I appeal to yourfelf in this mat- 
ter. When God is reprefented as giving this reafon to his 
angels for a particular favor to be beftowed on Abraham, 
becaufe he knew., that he ivould command his children and house- 
hold to keep the <way of the Lord, that he might obtain the blejjing 
promfed ; f did he not intend to declare his approbation 
of the care he took to fupport religion in his family ? And 
can it be fupported in a total neglect of prayer ? Again, 
do you not, in your confcierice, think, that the fpirit of God 
meant, that we mould take Jofhua for an example, when 
he tells us, that he refolved, and publicly declared the 
refolntion, that he and his houfe would ferve the Lord ; J 
which muft express a religious care of his family too ? t)o 
you not believe, that this bleffed fpirit meant it as a com- 
mendation of «/<?£, thathe offered facrifces for all his children ;§ 
facrifiees, undoubtedly attended with prayers ; when he 
feared left the gaiety of their hearts in their fucceffive 
feaftings might have betrayed them into fome moral evil ? 
And was it not to do an honor to David that the fcripture 

informs 

* i Cor. x. 22. f Gen, xviii. 19. % Jofh. xxiv. 15. 
$ Job i. 5. 






to the m after »f a family. 34^ 

informs us, that he went home to blefs his houfehold ;* that 
is, to perform fome folemn aft of domeftic worship, when 
he had been fpending the whole day in public devotions ? 
What think you of the example of Daniel, who prayed in 
his hovfe, with his windows open towards Jerufalem,\ and 
would rather run the rifk of being caft into the den of li- 
ons, and being torn in pieces by thofe cruel beafts, than 
he would either omit or conceal it ? And do you think, 
that when our blejfed Lord, whofe whole life was employed 
in religious fervices, fo frequently took his difciples apart to 
pray with them, that he did not intend this as an example 
to us, of praying with thofe under our fpecial care, or in 
other words, with the members of our own family, who 
are molt immediately fo ? Or can you by any imaginable 
artifice delude yourfelf fo far as to think, that when we are 
folemnly charged and commanded to pi ay with all prayer 
and fupplication,\ this kind of prayer is not included in that 
apoftolical injunction ? 

On the whole the queflion lies in a very little room. — 
Have I proved by what I have faid before, that family 
prayer is a reafonable thing ? That it has a tendency to 
promote the honor of God, and the intereft of religion, 
and your own falvation, with that of thofe who are com- 
mitted to your care ? If you are really convinced of this, 
then all the general precepts which require the love of 
God and your neighbor, all that recommend a regard to 
the intereft of Chrift, and a concern for our own everlaft- 
ing happinefs, bind it in this connection as certainly upon 
us, as if it had been commanded in words as exprefs as 
thofe, in which we are required to enter into our clcfets, and 
there to pray to our father which is in fecret. ^ 

And I will farther add, that if the care of family relig- 
ion be (as I fuppofe every man's confcience will fecretly 
teftify that it is) a proper part of religious education, then 
all thofe many partages of fcripture which recommend 
this, mud in all reafonbe underftood as including that.* 

But 
* 2 Sam. vi. 20. f Dan. vi. 10. % Eph. vi. 18. § Mat. vi. 6, 

* This part of the argument is enforced with peculiar flrengih 
by that great and excellent writer, Mr. Howe, in his Pojihu- 
mous Sermons on the fubjetl ; which I earnefdy recommend to ev- 
ery reader that can get an opportunity of ' pcrujing them* 



34-fr Family reTigion recommended 

But, perhaps, you may be ready to plead, 
2. " That it is generally neglected" 

Yet fcarce can you have made or- thought of this objeo 
tion, but you will fee at the firft glance, that this muft turn 
upon youifelf, rather than on the whole appear favorable 
to your caufe. It is the reproach of our age, if it be, in- 
deed, generally neglecled. And if it be generally excluded 
from the families of the rich and the great, (who too 
frequently fet the fafhion, where they are moft apt to fet 
it wrong ) let it rather awaken a generous indignation in 
our breaft, to think that it is fo excluded. At leaft, let 
it awaken a holy zeal to exert ourfelves fo much the more, 
as it is certain that no affociation in vice can fecure thofe 
that join in it : For it is exprefsly faid, though hand join in 
hand^ the wicked Jhall not be unpuni/hed.f So will your obe- 
dience be the more acceptable, in proportion t© the degree 
in which it is lingular. Were there not one praying fam- 
ily in the whole nation, in the whole world, methinks it 
mould inftigate you to the practice, rather than tempt you 
to the neglect, and you mould prefs on as ambitious of the 
glory of leading the way : For what could be a nobler ob- 
ject of ambition, than to be pointed out by the bleffed God 
bimfeif, as Job was ; of whom he faid, with a kind of tri- 
umph, hajl thou considered my fervant Job, that there is none 
like him in the land, 01 even on the earth ?% But bleffed be 
God, this fuppofed u.niverfal neglect is far from being the 
cafe. Let it however rejoice us, if God may fay, " There 
are fuch and fuch families, diftinguifhed from thofe in the 
neighborhood on this account ; as prevalent as the neglect 
of 'family prayer is, they have the refolution to practife it, 
and like my fervant Daniel, fear not the reproach and 
contempt which profane and ungodly men may caft upon 
them, if they may but honor me, and engage my favor : 
/ know them ; I hearken and hear, and a book of remembrance 
is -written before. me for them that fear me, and think on my name."§ 
Nor mould you urge, 

3. " That you have/? much bujinefs of another kind, as not 
to be able to attend to this." 

I might cut this objection fhort at once, by applying te 
your confeience, whether you have not time for many- 
other 
f Pro v. xi. 21. % J °b i. 8. § MaL in. 16. 



to the majier of a family. $47 

other things, which you know to be of much lefs impor- 
tance. How many hours in a week do you find for a- 
mufement, while you have none for devotion in your fam- 
ily ? And do you, indeed, hold the bleffing of God fo 
very cheap, and think it a matter of fo little importance, 
that you conclude your bufmefs muft fucceed the worfe, 
if a few minutes were daily taken folemnly to feek it to- 
gether I Let me rather admonifh you, that the greater 
your bufmefs is, the more need ycu have to pray earneftly, 
that your hearts may not be engrofled by it. And I 
would beg leave further to remind you, that if your hurry 
of bufmefs were, indeed, fo great as the objection fuppof- 
es, (which I believe is feldom the cafe) prudence alone 
might fu/ggeft, that you fhould endeavor to contract it. — 
For there are certain boundaries, beyond which a wife and 
faithful care cannot extend ; and as an attempt to go be- 
yond thefe boundaries has generally its foundation in ava- 
rice, it often has its end in poverty and ruin. But if you 
were ever fo fecure offucceeding for this world, how dear 
might you and your children pay for that fuccefs, if all the 
bleffed confequences of family religion, for time, and for e- 
ternity, were to be given up as the price of that very fmall 
part of your gains, which is owing to the minutes you take 
from thefe exercifes, that you may give themtothe world? 
For you plainly perceive the queftion is only about them, 
and by.no means about a flrenuous application to the 

proper duties of your fecular calling through the day 

And if you will bs rich uponfuch profane terms as are here 
fuppofed, (for truly I can call them no better xh2.11 profane) 
you will probably plunge yourfelf into final perdition, and 
may, in the mean time, pierce yourfelf through with many for-- 
rows j* while religious families learn, by bleffed experi- 
ence, that the biffing of the Lor d, which they are fo often 
imploring together, maketh rich, and addeth no forrow ivith 
it ;\ or that a little ivith the fear of the Lord, is better than 
great treafure ivith that intermingled trouble, % which in the 
neglect of God muft neceifarily be expected. But I con- 
clude that yet more will be objecting, 

4. " That they want ability for a work of this kind." 
To this I muft, in the firft place, reply, that where the 

heart 
* 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10. f Prov. x. 22. ± Prov. xv. 16. 



548 Family religion recommended 

heart is rightly difpofed, it does not require any uncommon 
abilities to d ifchar ge family worfhip in a decent and edifying 
manner. The heart of a wife and good man, in this refpecl, 
teacheth his mouth, and addeth knowledge to his tips ;* and out 
cfthefullnefsofit, when it is, indeed, full of pious affections, 
the mouth will naturally fpeak.f And if it fpeak naturally, 
and in the main properly, it is enough. There is no need 
at all of fpeaking elegantly. The plained and fimpleft 
language, in addrelTes to the majefty of heaven, appears 
to me far preferable to laboured, pompous and artificial 
expreflions. Plain, ihort fentences, uttered juft as they 
rife in the mind, will be beft underftood by them that join 
with you. And it mould, on fuch occafions, be our endeav- 
our, to let ourfelves down, as much as poffible, to the under- 
ftanding of the leaft and meaneft of them : And this will 
in itfelf be more pleafmg to Gad, than any thing which 
mould proceed from oftentation and parade. 

I rauft alfo defire you to confider, how many helps you 
may eafily procure. The fcripture is a large and noble 
magazine of the moft proper fentiments, and mod ex- 
prellive language ; which if you will attend to with a 
becoming regard, will foon furnish you for every good word 
and work,- and moft apparently for this. And befides 
this we have, in our language a great variety of excellent 
forms of prayer, for families as well as for private per- 
sons ; J which you may ufe, at leaft at firft, with great 
profit. And if it be too laborious to you to learn them 
by heart, or, if having learnt them, you dare not truft 
your memory, what mould forbid your reading them rev- 
erently and devoutly ? I hope I ihall give no offence to 
any good Chriftian by faying, but on this occafion I 
mould offend my cenfcience by not faying, that I have 

long 
* Prov. xvi. 23. f Luke vi. 45. 

£ / mujl beg leave on this occafion to mention and recommend 
two excellent colledions of this kind, Jenk's Devotions, and The 
Family Prayer Book, printed for Mr. Waugh. Readers of 
almofl every tajle may find themf elves fuited by one or the other of 
thefe ; and there are many admirably devout and judicious forms 
In both, which IJhould think every wife and good man might hear 
with pleafure and improvement, and to every claufe of which b$ 
might put his mojl hearty Amen. 






tv the m after of a family. 345 

long thought an irreconcileable averfion to forms of prayer, 
even of human compofition, as vain a fuperftitibn, as a 
paflionate attachment to them. And if any had rather, 
that a family mould be prayerlefs, than that a well cho- 
fen form mould be gravely and folemnly read in it, I think 
he judges as abfurdly, as If he would rather fee them 
ftarving to death, than fed out of a dim whofe materials 
or ihape are difagreeable to him. The main thing is, 
that God be reverently and fincerely adored, that fuita- 
ble bleffings, temporal and fpiritual, be fought from him 
for ourfelves and others, and cordial thankfgivings re- 
turned to him for the various gifts of his continual boun- 
ty : and if this be done, the circumftances of doing it, 
though I cannot think them quite indifferent, are com- 
paratively of fmall importance. I know by fure experi- 
ence, in a great variety of inftances, that it is very pofli- 
ble for Chriftians of no extraordinary genius, and with a 
very low education, to acquit themfelves honorably in 
prayer without the affiftance of forms : And they, who 
at firit need them, may, and probably, if they feriouily 
fet about it, would foon outgrow that need. But if they 
did not, God might be glorified, and families edified, by 
the continued ufe of fuch helps. And, on the vhole, if 
it be, indeed, come to this, that you will rather facrifice all 
the benefits of family prayer, than fubmit to the trouble of 
reading, or appointing another to read, a well compofed 
addrefs, which, perhaps, with a fmall portion of fcrip- 
ture before it, might not take up one quarter of an houi's 
time, indeed, you mud be condemned by God, and your 
own confcience. In fuch a view, both muft teftify, that 
it is neither want of leifure, nor want of ability, that pre- 
vents your difcharging your duty, but a flupid indiffer- 
ence about it, or rather a wretched averfion to it ; the 
natural confequence of which, might, if a little reflected 
upon, be furficient to throw the moft carelefs and arro- 
gant firmer into an awful alarm, if not a trembling con- 
. itcrnation. 

I apprehend, that the mofl plauilble objections have 
now been canvaffed ; for I fuopofe, few will be fo weak 
and cowardly as to plead, 

5. " That their domeftics will not fulmit to the intro- 
duction of fuch orders asthefe." But 



§59 Family religion recommended 

But as this may be fecretly thought of, where it would 
not be pleaded, efpecially where thefe duties have un- 
happily been omitted when families were firft formed, 
and in their moft flexible and pliant {late, I will b< 
a few 'words on this head. 

And here I mult defire, that you would not raftJy con- 
elude this to be the cafe with refpect to your own. Do 
not think fo unkindly of your domeftics, if they be not 
extremely wicked indeed, as to imagine they would be fe- 
cretly difcontented with fpending a little time daily in 
hearing the word of God, and being prefent at your do- 
meftic devotion ; much lefsihould you allow yourfelf to 
tlrnk, till it appears in fact, that they will have the arro- 
gance openly to difpute fo reafcnable a determination 
as this. Perhaps, on the contrary, they are even now 
fecretly wifhing, that God would put it into your heart 
to make the attempt ; and thinking with a kind of ten- 
der regret, " Why are we denied Tuch a bleffing, when 
the members of this and that family in the neighborhood 
are favored vith it'?" 

But if it be, indeed, as you fuppofe, that they would, 
think of it with a fecret averilon, and come into it with 
apparent reluctance, if they can be induced to come in- 
to it at all ; you would do well to reflect, Whether this 
profanenefs and perverfenefs may not, in a great meafure 
at lead, be owing to that very neglect, which I am now 
preflmg you to reform ? Which, if it be, it ought cer- 
tainly to convince you, in the moft powerful and effectual 
manner, of the neceffity of endeavoring to repair as foon 
as poffibie the mifchief already done. And if there be 
-really an oppofitfon, you ought to let any, in whom you 
-difcover it, know, that your meafures are fixed, and that 
you cannot and will n t refign that juft authority, which 
the laws of God and man give you in your own houfe, to 
the petulancy of their humour, or the impiety of their 
unhappy temper. Make the trial, whether they will dare 
to break with you, rather than fubmit to fo eafy a condi- 
tion, as that of being prefent at your hours of family 
:woffhip. If it be a few ant that difputes it, you will 
no doubt, think it a great blclhag to your family to rid it 
of fo dneftabie a member in that relation, AvA if it be a 

child 



to the tnajler of a family, ^ 351 

grown up to years that fhould be years of difcretion, 

fets himfeif againft this reformation, 'and it is not 

• pcffible that any others fhould oppofe you though it is cer- 

that, wherever fuch afon of Belial be > he muft be a 

great grief to your heart, you will be delivered from a 

vgreat deal of diitrefs, which the fight of his wickednefa 

daily give 5 rou by refuting hirn a place in your own 

family, which he would only difgra.ee and corrupt, and 

leaving him to practice thofe irregularities and fcandals 

which always go along with fuch a prefumptuous contempt 

of religion, any where elfe rather than under yourewnroof* 

I can think of but one objection more, and that is, 

6. " That you may not know hew ic Introduce a practice 

which you have fo long neglected." 

But this is an objection fo very foon removed, that I 
hope, if nothing elfe lie in the way, your family will not 
continue another week in the unhappy circumftances in 
which your negligence has hitherto kept it. I were un- 
worthy the name of a minifler of the Gofpel, if, whatever 
my other engagements are I were n\ot willing to give you 
my utmott affiitance, as foon as poffible, info good a work 
as the reformation of this great and lamentable evil. Far 
from thinking it a trouble to vifit you, and fpend an hour 
with you upon fuch an occafion ; who would not efieem it 
a refrefhment, and a bleffing, to come and inform your 
domeitics, when gathered together for this'purpofe, how 
wife and happy a refolution you had taken, to reprefent 
the reafon they have to rejoice in it, and to blefs God who 
had infpired you with it ? And how fweet a work would 
it be to perform it, as for the nrft time, imploring the 
bleflings of providence and grace on you and yours, and 
entreating thofe afTiftances of his holy fpirit, which may 
qualify you more abundantly for difcharging your pecul- 
iar part in it, and may render it the fuccefsful means of 
planting, or of fupporting and animating a principle of 
true religion in every fotil under your care ? Nor would 
the joy and delight be confined to the minutes fpent with 
you at fuch a feafon : It would be carried home to the 
ftudy and to the houfe of God ; And the very remem- 
brance of it would, for years to come encourage to other 
attempts of ufefulnefs, and ftrengthen our hands in the 
work of tho Lord* Ff And> 



1 



$$2 Family religion recommended 

And, O my clear friend, whoever you are, fc 
lhamed, that a minirter ihould on this occafion tell your 
children and fervants, that you are fenfible of your for- 
mer neglect, and are determined in the ftrength of God to 
practife a duty, which it has indeed been criminal hitherto * 
to omit. This is a mean and unworthy fliame, and would I 
prevent our reforming evils which are, indeed, fhameful. 
It will be a glory to you, to be willing and folicitous to 
revive languishing religion ; a glcry, to give to other fam- 
ilies an example, which, if they have the wifdom and cour- 
age to follow it, will undoubtedly bring down a rich vari- 
ety of bleflings on themfelves, and, if followed by confid- 
erable numbers"; on the public . At lead, it will be an 
honor to you in the fight tof men, and what is infinitely 
more, in the light of God to have made the generous ef- 
fort ; and not to make the guilty neglect of former years, 
anexcufe for continuing to neglect., what it mould rather 
be a powerful argument immediately to practiie. 

But I would by no means infift upon it, that divine wor- 
ship mould be introduced into your family in the particu- 
lar manner I have recommended. Ufe your own judg- 
ment, andpurfue your own inclination ; fo that it be but 
effectually and immediately done. Ycu may, perhaps, 
think it convenient to call them together, and read over 
this letter XQ them ; telling them at the conclufion that you 
ere, in your confcience, convinced there is reafon in it 
which cannot be anfwered, and that therefore you are re-, 
folved to act agreeably to it. Ycu may then proceed to 
read a portion of fcripture, and to pray with them infuch 
a manner as you may think moft expedient. But in what- 
ever manner it be done, you will remember, that it muft 
be/wil&i reverence and folemnity, and with unfeigned fer- 
vor or devotion, as in the fight of the heart fearching God. 
And you will farther remember, that, when once introduc- 
ed, it mutt be reiolutely and conftantly carried on ; for to 
call out this heavenly gueft, will, inforne degree, be more 
fhameful than not to admit it. But, I hope, fweet expe- 
rience of the pleafure of thefe duties will be inftead of a 
thoufand arguments, to engage your adherence to them. 
May God give you resolution immediately to make the at- 
tempt ! and maty he affift and accept you, and fcatter down 

every 



to the mafrer of a family. %$$ 

every defirable ble fling of providence and of grace oa 
you and yours ! So that this day, (for I hope it will be in- 
troduced this very day) may become memorable in your 
lives, as a feafon from whence you may date a profperity 
and a joy hitherto unknown, how happy foever you may 
have been in former years : For very imperfect, I am fure, 
muft that domeftic happineis be, in which domeftic relig- 
ion has no part. 

How (hall I congratulate myfelf, if, in confequence of 
the reprefentation and addrefs I have now been making to 
you, 1 may be the bleffed inftrument in the divine hand of 
inspiring you with fuch a refolution ! What an additional 
bond will then be added to ourfriendfhip, while God con- 
tinues us together in life i Yea, what an everlafting bond 
of a nobler friendfhip, in a future ftate ; where it will be, 
before the throne of God, my joy to have given fuch ad- 
monitions as thefe, and yours faithfully and obediently to 
have received them ! 

But if after all you will not be perfuaded, but will heark- 
en to the voice of cowardice, and floth, and irreligion, in 
defiance of fo many awakening and affecting reafons, you 
xnuft. anfwer- it at large. If your children and fervants 
grow up in the neglect of God, and pierce your heart with 
thofe forrows, which fuch fervants and efpecially fuch 
children, are like to occafion ; iftheyraife profane and 
profligate families ; if they prove the curfe of their coun- 
try, as well ae the torment and ruin of thofe mod intimate- 
ly related to them ; the guilt is in part yours, and (I repeat 
it again) you mud anfwer it to God at the great day, that 
you have omitted the proper and appointed method of 
preventing fuch fatal evils. In the mean time, you rnuft 
anfwer the omiilion to your own confcience ; which prob- 
ably has not been eafy in former days, and in future days 
may be yet more unquiet. Yes, Sir, the memory of this 
addrefs may continue, to torment you, if it cannot reform 
"you : And if you do not forfake the houfe of God, as well 
as exclude God and his, worfhip from your own houfei 
you will meet with new wounds ; for new exhortations 
and admonitions will arm reflection with new reproaches. 
And in this uncomfortable manner you will probably go 
on, till what has been the grief and ihame of your life, be. 

corns 



554 dn Introduction to Family Prayer. 

come the affliction of your dying bed ; nor dare I prefume 
to allure you, that God will anfwer your laft cries for par- 
don. The beft you can expect under the confcioufnefs of 
this guilt is to pafs trembling to your final doom : — But 
whatever that doom be, you muft acquit your minifter 
who has given you this faithful warning ;* and this letter, 
transcribed, as it were, in the records of the divine cm* 
nifcience, fhail teftify, that a matter of fo great importance 
hath not been wholly ne gleeted, hath not "been coldly and 
flightly urged, by, 

Dear Sir, your affectionate Friend, 

aud faithful Servant in our common Lord, 

P. DODDRIDGE. 

NOR7HJMTTGN, Dec 20, 1 749. 

* If this Letter Jhould he prefented by any of my brethren in the minijiry l» 
pny of their hearers, they may eafxly fee that this exprijjion may be afplica* 
hit to thentf as toe Has to thofe who may receive itjrom my hands. 



•£§^:===-S»- 



A PRAYER, 

Which may be ufed as an introduction to ajlated courfe of Family 
Prayer, where it hath been formerly neglecled. 



o 



MOST great and glorious God ! When we conflder 
thee, as the gracious author of all thofe mercies which we 
enjoy in our perfons and in our family, we have great 
reafon to humble ourfelves before thee, that we have not 
more folemnly acknowledged that goodnefs, on which we 
have fo long and fo comfortably fubfifled. Juftly might- 
eft thou, O thou almighty Jehovah, have poured out thy 
fury upon thofe, that herein have acted as if they knew 
thee not, even upon this family which hath not called on 
thy name. But, confeffing and lamenting this our fmful 
and inexcufable neglect, we earneftly entreat thee through 
Jefas Chrift to pardon it, and to accept and ftrengthen 
the refolution, which, in dependence on thy grace, we 
would now form, to be for the future diligent in it, and 
to do all we can in our respective ftations to encourage and 
Aipport it. 

And we entreat thee to blefs thofe religious opportuni- 
ties. 



A Prayer for Mornmg or Evening. 55^ 

"ties, which as a family we may enjoy. Enable us to hear 
thy word with due attention : Open our minds to all n> 
ftruclion we receive from it, and bow our hearts to hum- 
ble obedience. 

Be favorabl-y prefent with us, when we are offering oi:r 
jiddreffes to thy throne ! While we are adoring thine in- 
finite perfections, may we feel a reverent and joyful fenfe 
of them upon oUr hearts ! . While we confefs our fins be- 
fore thee, may we inwardly abhor them and mourn over 
them, and be infpired with firm resolutions, that we will 
never return to them any more, but will guard againft 
every appearance of evil ! Excite in oUr fouls earneft de* 
fires after thofe fpiritual ble (Tings, which we afk at thine 
hands ! May we intercede for others with fervent charity ! 
May we acknowledge thy mercies with the mod lively grati- 
tude, and devote ourfelves to thee with full purpofeof heart. 

And, on the whole, may every one of us find the di- 
Vine life growing and advancing in our fouls by every op- 
portunity of this nature ; that we may rejoice in each oth- 
er, and in thee ; and that true religion, being firmly eftah- 
; Ji!hed in our own hearts, may by our means be communi- 
cated to others, fo far as our influence over them may ex- 
tend ; till at length, having worfhipped thee together in 
fuch inftitutions as thefe in an holy and acceptable man- 
ner, we may join that large and bieffed family above, 
which is forever rejoicing in thy prefence ; through Jefus 
Chrift our Lord, to whom, with thee, O father, and thine 
koly fpirit, be everlafting praifes. Amen. 



A P R A Y E R for a FAMILY, 

To he ufed either Morning or Evening, with fuch variations as 
may eqftly be underjlood by any who are able to read it. 



M< 



.OST great, eternal, and ever bieffed God ! We, thine 
unworthy creatures, defire at this time with all humility 
to bow ourfelves down in thine awful and ma- 
jeftic prefence, acknowledging thine infinite Adoration, 
perfections and glories. [We adore thee, as 
the firft and the laft, the greateft and the beft of beings % 

f 2 wh© 



%$6 A Prayer for 

who art originally and necefTarily pofTefTed of knowledge 
and power, wifdom and righteoufnefs, holinefs and truth, 
mercy and goodnefs, in degrees which no other being, 
can conceive.] We pay thee our homage, as the author 
and fupport of univerial nature, the Lord and life of the 
creation. We acknowledge ourfelves thy creatures, whofe 
bodies and fouls have been formed by thine hand, and 
continually maintained and defended by thy care and favor. 
Moft juftly mighteft thou therefore, O our heavenly fa- 
ther, have expected from us the moft conftant 
Confcffion. gratitude, duty and obedience : But we hum- 
bly confefs before thee (and we defire to do it 
with the deepeft humiliation and lhame, remorfe and for- 
row) that we have been very much wanting in thole returns ; 
yea, that we have all moft grievoufly offended thee. — 
[We confefs, O thou holy, holy, holy Lord God, that we 
are polluted and guilty creatures, and fo moft unworthy, 
and unfit to appear in thy prefence.] We acknowledge, 
O Lord, that we were map en in iniquity, and in fin did 
our mothers conceive us ; and that we have, from our 
very childhood, been renewing our provocations and tranf- 
greffions in our thoughts, our words and our actions : and 
all thefe attended with circumftances of high aggravation. 
[We own and lament, O thou moft gracious fovereign, 
that we have in numberlefs inftances, negligently, yea 
and prefumptuoufly broken thofe wife and holy laws, 
which thou gaveft us for our good ; and that by the breach 
of them we have deferved thy righteous diipleafure :] So 
that we might have/been made examples of juftice, and 
ipectacles of mifery, to all thy rational cieation. [We 
might long fince have been cut off from this pleafant abode 
which thy goodnefs \ -has affigned us, and from all the 
comforts thou haft given us in it, and been fent down to 
everlafting darknefs, where the worm dieth not, ^id the 
fire is not quenched.] 

But we humbly implore thy pardon and mercy in Chrift 

Jefus our Lord, thine only begotten and 

Petition for par- we ij beloved ion ; who hath by thine ap- 

don and grace po ; ntment O companionate father, vifit- 

ed tms world or ours, not only to give it 

the moft excellent inftruftions, confirmed by the moft af- 

tonilhiiJg 



Morning or Evening. 3 5 7 

tonifhmg miracles, and recommended by the mod amiable 
example ; but alio to redeem us to God by his blood, and 
to offer up his own life a facrifice for us : He was deliv- 
ered for our offences, and railed again for our justifica- 
tion : And as he is now afcended into heaven, there to 
make a prevailing intercefTion for all that come unto God 
thro' him ; we prefume to approach thy iacred prefence 
with all becoming regards to him, humbly pleading that 
atoning blood which he ilied on the crofs, and that all 
perfect merit and righteouihefs of his, by which alone fm- 
ners may draw near unto thee with acceptance. . And we 
entreat thee for his fake, and in regard to our rel-ation 
to him, fully and freely to forgive us all our numberlefs 
tranfgfeffions, and to be graciouily reconciled to us ; yea, 
to take us, unworthy as we are, into the number of thy dear 
children. For his fake we alfo humbly entreat thee, to 
free us from the power of fin ; as well as from its guilt. 
Shed down, O thou God of all grace, thine holy fpirit 
upon our hearts in a rich abundance, to inspire us with a 
hatred of every thing that is difpleafmg to thee, and to 
form us to a love of univerfal goodnefs, and a defire of 
making continual improvements in it ! 

[Fill us, O Lord, we humbly befeech thee, with a fer- 
vent love to thy bleiled felf ! In all things may we be o- 
bedient to thine holy precepts, and fubmiffive to thy wife 
and gracious diipofal ! May we be united to Chrift by a 
fmcere faith, which ihall work by love, and (hew itlelf in 
keeping his commandments, as well as trufting his atone- 
ment, intercefTion, and grace ! may we be always led by 
the Holy fpirit of God, and cherifh his influence on our 
hearts as the fpirit of holinefs and of love ! To our breth- 
ren of mankind may we be ftriclrly juft, and affectionately 
kind, doing to others as we could reafonably defire they 
ihouH do to us, and rejoicing in every opportunity of ad- 
vancing their temporal or fpiritual happinefs ! 

While we continue here in this uncertain, world, give 
us, if it be thy bleiled will, food to eat, and raiment to put 
en, health of body, and cheerfulnefs of mind, and whatev- 
er other enjoyments thou feed neceffary to make our jour- 
ney through life comfortable ! But let us not have our 
portion on earth ! May our hearts be more and more in- 
different 



$$8 A Prayer for 

different to it, and our views continually raifed above it l 
[[May we learn to govern with Uriel authority our appe« 
tites and paffions, and to deny ourfelves wherever the pre- 
cepts of thy gofpel require it!] On the whole, may every 
part of our conduct, in every relation and circumftance of 
life, adorn religion ; and may the luftre of our good works 
engage many around us to glorify our Father in heaven ? 
May we continually remember the fhortnefs of time, and 
•'the importance of eternity ; and behave in fuch a man- 
ner, that mould we be fummoned away ever fo fuddenly, 
death may not be a terrible, but a joyful furprife ! Sup- 
port us, O Lord, in our laft extremities, and help us to 
honor thee by our dying behavior ! Receive our depart- 
ing fpirits to the embraces of thy mercy, and give us a 
triumphant part in the refurreclion of the ju ft '! 

We pray for the advancement of thy gofpel in the world, 
•and for the converfion of Jews and Gentiles to the 
Tmerceffion. faith as it is in Jefus. We pray,0 Lord, for the 
progrefs and improvement of reformation, a- 
broad and at home. We affectionately recommend to 
thee thofe who are called to the government of this land, 
and earneftly pray thee that they may be endued with all 
the wifdom and grace which are necelTary to the faithful 
difcharge of the duties of their refpective offices. We en- 
treat thee by thy grace to animate all, who are diftin- 
guifhed by power, riches, or other advantages, that they 
may improve all their talents for the public good ; And 
we earneftly pray, that the minifters of thy gofpel of every 
denomination, may, with united affection, ardent zeal, and 
eminent fuccefs, be carrying on the work of the Lord ! 

May ifpleafe thee, O thou God of mercy, to fpread a- 
mong Chriftians of every profefTion, afpirit of forbearance, 
candor, and love ; and to vifit all that are in any kind of 
affliction, whether perfonal or relative, of mind, body, or 
eftate ! Gracioufty fupportthem under their forrews, and 
in thine own time fend them deliverance ! 

We befeech thee to blefs us as a family ; whether we 
prefide over it, or belong to it, as children, fojoumers, cr 
fervants, may we all be found in a faithful difcharge of our 
duty to thee, and to each other ! May our united and re- 
tired devotions be fo performed, as to have the happieft 
influence on our temper and our senduct I And 



Morning or Evening. $5g 

And now, O moft gr aciousand merciful Father, we defire 
With all our hearts to blefs and adore thine 
holy name, for all thy great and unmerited Tha&kfgiving. 
goodnefstous,and to the whole human race. 
We praife thee for our creation and prefervation, for 
health and eafe, for food and raiment, for liberty and 
f ifety, for friends and fuccefs ; and above all, for our re- 
demption, for the hieftimable priviledge of approaching to 
thee through a Mediator, and for the rich and full provisi- 
on thou haft made in him for the forgivenefs of our daily 
fins, for our receiving all the fupplies of grace we ftand in 
need of here, and our enjoying everlafting happinefs 
hereafter. And, under a fenfe of thy mercies, we defire to 
devote ourfelves to thee as the Lord our God, and renew 
our covenant with thee through ou?r Lord Jefus Chrift ; 
humbly refolving, by the afiiftance of thy Spirit and grace, 
to ferve thee with all good fidelity unto the end of ourlives. 

We particularly blefs thee for the mercies of the day 
Tor night] paft, and would humbly commit ourfelves to 
thy gracious protection and favor this night, [or day] 
entreating thee to guard us from all evil, and to grant that 
at our next afTembling together we may have reafon to 
unite our praifes for the continuance of thy goodnefs : 
And may we be perpetually advancing in our preparation 
for that heavenly world, where we hope to worlhip thee 
without any of thofe imperfections which now attend us ; 
which we afk and hope, through the merits of thy foil 
Chrift Jefus, in whom we have righteoufnefs and ftrength, 
and in whofe name and words we conclude our addreifes, 
calling on thee as our father which art in heaven, hallow- 
ed be thy name : Thy kingdom come : Thy will be done 
on earth, as it is in heaven : Give us this day cur daily 
bread : And forgive us our trefpaffes, as we forgive them 
that trefpafs againft us ; And lead us not into temptation, 
but deliver us from evil : for thine is the kingdom and 
the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen I 

N.B. As this prayer may be deliberately read over 
in about ten minutes, or leaving out what is included in 
crotchets in half a quarter of an hour, I think I may take it 
for granted, that the affair is brought to a crifis : For, if 
juft after reading this letter, being thus difarmed of every 

excufe 



3<5© Friendly advice to all whom it may concern. 

excufe as to die want of neceilary'helps, you will not call 
your family together to attend to it fcrfo fmall afpace cf 
lime, or to put up fome other petitions with them, I fear 
it is a fad fign, you will live and die in the neglect of this 
important duty, and I muft leave you to anfwer it in the 
prefence of God. 






Y 



FRIENDLY ADVICE. 

TO ALL WHOM IT MAT CONCERN. 
[ADDED BY ANOTHER HAND.] 



OU have a foul, an immortal foul, a foul which muft 
fhortly live either with God in heaven or with the devils in hell. 
Do you ever think of this ? Do you fericuf.y reflect upon it ! For 
which (late is your foul prepared ? To which is it haftening ? The 
inquiry is important ; for what will it profit you to gain the whole 
world and lofe your foul ? O delay not to think of eternity till it be 
too late? If you fhouldbe loir, can you endure everlafting burniDge ? 
But you hope to be faved ; take care, then, that your hope be well 
founded. You truft, perhaps, to themere mercy of God ; but remem- 
ber, that God is juft and true, as well as merciful. God has made 
laws, every one of which you and I have broken. Are you not bound 
to love God with all your heart : yet do you not love the world ? 
The world is at enmity with God, and the apoftle John fays, that if 
any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him, I John 
ii. 15. Are you not living as the generality of the world are living ? 
Then you are in the broad road which leadeth to deftru£tion,Mat. 
vii. 13, 14. Have you not profaned God's holy name and fabbaths I 
Have you not indulged anger, envy, luft, and many evil tempers, 
and affections ? Has there been no deceit in your lips ? I will fup- 
pofe that you never omit morning nor evening prayer ; but do you 
ever pray for mercy a« fervently as a ftarving beggar afks for a piece 
of bread, or a condemned criminal for pardon ? I will fuppofe that 
you never omit to praife God twice every day for the bit flings you 
receive from him ? but do you ever return God thanks for 
fending his own fon to fuffer for the ungodly, as heartily as 
you would thank a man that had faved you from being 
drowned ? That is fuch praife as you are bound to offer him. 
Your confcience mull plead guilty, and God's word declares that 
fuch people cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. 1 Ccr. vi. 
9, 10. Gal. v. 19 — ax. Rev.iii. 16. Mat. xv. 8. — But, perhaps, you 
think, that they only who live conftantly in thefe fins deferve e- 
ternal punifhment ; there you are much miftaken ; God's holy law 
curfes us for one offence, Gal. iii. 10. Think then how many curf- 
es mufl hang over your unhappy and neglected foul ! If for one of- 
fence 






Friendly advice $6l 

JTence you are condemned forever, what 'an account have you to 
give ! what a dreadful fentence h-ive you to expect ! And now let 
me a/k you it you know how to efcape this mifery ? Suppofe you 
are lorry for your fins ; will that forrow procure your pardon? 
No — would you forgive a man twenty pounds becaufe he was forry 
that he owed it to you ? Neither will God forgive you merely on 
account of your forrow : Judas repented thus, hut was not faved. 
Will forrow for the paft,. and amendment cf your future life, fave 
you ? No — would you forgive a man a large debt, becaufe he did 
not continue to increafe the debt ? Neither will God. Whilft, there- 
fore, ycu hope to be faved by any repentance, amendment or mer- 
its of your own, be afiured you cannot poffibly be faved. God 
hath faid, " the foul that hnneth it fhall die;" his juftice and his 
truth are both engaged to enforce this law ; fo that if God were to 
forgive ycu in the way in which you expect forgivenefs, he would 
neither be juft nor true. He, however, ourt of his great mercy, has 
provided a way, in which he can pardon finners, without violat- 
ing eithe'r his juftice or his truth. Do you know this way ? Do you 
know how mercy and truth can meet together ? Stop a while, lay 
down the book for two or three minutes, and corrfider with ytur- 
felf whether you know how ycur foul is to be faved— -Have you 
l'ived fo many years obnoxious to eternal death, in hourly danger of 
its execution, and are you ignoraut of the only method by which 
you may efcape it ? In what a deplorable condition is your poor 
foul ! O think if ycu die this day, what muft be your ftate forever? 
If you had died yefterday, where would ycur foul have been at this 
inftant ; would it have been in heaven ? How could you have been 
there, when, fo far from having embraced the way of falvation de- 
clared in the gcfpel, you do not even know what it is ? Well then, 
b'efs God that he has fpared your life, and may he enable you to 
receive the following inftruction. 

Do you afk what you muft do to be faved ? To this moft impor- 
tant queflion, 1 anftver, " Believe in the Lord Jcfus Chrift, and thou 
fhalt be faved." Read the account of the jailor, Adis xvi. 25. — 35. 
Chrift, after his refurrection, faid to his difciples, (Mark xvi. 1 6.)— 
" He that believetli thall be faved, and he that believeth not fhall 
be damned." 

But what is it to believe in him ? It is to believe that Jefus Chrift 
is God equal with the father ; that he took our nature upon him 
^in order to obey that law which we had broken, and bear that 
vengeance which our fins deferved ; and that no man, however 
honeft, chafte, fober, and charitable he maybe, can be delivered 
from hell, or enjoy the happinefs of heaven, nut only on account of 
Chrift's obedience unto death, which is imputed to all who believe 
in him. 

Do not imagine that ycur own works will fave you ; or that ycu 

( are to be faved, partly by your own works, and partly by the right- 

v eoufnefs of Jefus Chrift • if you are ever faved, it mud be thro' the 

merits of CHRIST ALONE ; fQr there « 110 other name under 

heavcay 



3^2 to all ivhotn it may concern, 

heaven, given among men, whereby we can be faved : And if God 
tnable you to receive it as a fanhiul faying, and worthy of all ac- 
ceptation, that Chrift Jefus came into the world to fave finners ; 
you will truft in CHRIST ALONE for the forgivenefs of your firs ; 
you will look up to Chrift for grace to follow the example of ha 
holy life ; in fhort, you will take Chrift as your prophet to teach 
you, ycur priell to atone and intercede for you, and your king to *■ 
rule over you and in ycu, and you muft, you cannot but be faved. 

I faid above that you cannot be faved by your repentance or a- 
tnendment. Indeed, repentance is not in your own power. It is 
the gift cf God, % Tim. ii. 25. You may dread the confequecces of 
j our fins, and on this iccount be forry for them, and in a great de- 
gree forfeke them, and yet be left. This is the forrcw cf the world 
which worketh death, a Cor. vii. 10. Godly forrow for fin can on- 
ly proceed from believing what Jcfus Chrift has done and iuffered ; 
<then will you look on him whom you have pierced by your iniqu!- 
ti s. and mourn, Zech. xii. 10. then will you hate fin, and abhor 
yourfelf from a fenfe of your own vilcnefs. Faith in Chrift alone 
can change your heart, and fanrftify your nature, Acls xxvi. 18. 
If any man, fays an infp'red apoftle, be in Chrift, (that is believes 
in him) he is a new creature, % Cor. v. 17. he is born again, Jf>hn 
i. 23. Have you been born again ? If fo, you love thofe things 
wmeh you before hated, and hate what you before loved. You 
have hitherto loved the world, fell", and (in ; now you love God, 
his word, commandments, houfe and ordinances. You have hither- 
to neglt<5lc:d your foul ; now you are ever looking up to heaven, 
for pardon, gi ace and glory. Unlefs all your aims, dtfigns, and 
purfuits, be changed, that is, " except you be born again, you can- 
not fee the kingdom cf God. John iii. 3. 

Ycu are not necefTarily born again in baptifm; baptifm is an 
Outward work upon the body ; the new birth is an inward work 
upon the foul. Ibefeechyou, do not reft, but fearch the fcriptures 
daily, that you may obtain further inftru&ion in the natuie of tli's 
new birth. When you underftand the true ftate oft v<_ry man who 
is born into the world, asfetfcsrth, Ron% iii. you will be better able 
to fee the natureand neceflity of the new birth, fpoken of in Johr, iii. 

Attend to the fcriptures of truth, as the word of the living G d 
who cannot lie ; b lieve what they teftify concerning your 1 ft 
ftate by nature, and the character of Jefus, as having rinifhed the,* 
work of fa!vation,and now exalted as a prince ard faviour to give (j 
repentance and remifiion of fins, a - le to fave to the uttermoft all 
that come unto God by him ; in believing you flrall afTured'y ex- 
perience a peace and joy which the world cannot give or take V 
way. May God blefs thefe words to the benefit of your foul ! 

Turn to the pafTagcs of fcripture to which I have referred ycu.- 
/ 



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